Byleth awoke late in the afternoon with messy hair and a ringing phone.
Byleth fumbled for her phone on the bedside table, blearily managing to open her eyes. She blinked multiple times to try and force her brain into thinking she was awake. She stared at her screen until it finally came into focus. She could just barely make out Claude's bolded name in the notifications.
uh oh did i kill you with all the dancing? gettin worried . . . or maybe I should stop spamming you and then maybe you'll answer, who knows
What? Spamming? She scrolled to the beginning to find out what he was talking about.
hey teach, i hope ya enjoyed yesterday
wait actually that's dumb i know you enjoyed it
after all u were dancing and smilin and all that, i was really happy to see u like that
well anyway i'm takin suggestions for our next fun activity
i have an idea but it's really simple compared to what we just did lol
uh teach
damn
...
this is awkward
...
uh oh did i kill you with all the dancing? gettin worried . . . or maybe I should stop spamming you and then maybe you'll answer, who knows
And one new message awaited her;
i swear i don't always spam like this i just can't wait to see u smile like u did yesterday, i really like seeing u happy
Byleth smiled upon seeing that last message, the sleepiness gone from her mind as she propped herself up on her arm. She began to hastily type out a reply;
Claude, I don't mind. It's my fault, actually. I've been...sleeping, all this time. All that dancing tired me out...but as you know, I had a lot of fun, so it was worth it. I have no suggestions...and I'm open to whatever you have as an idea. Anything that can make me smile is well worth it, it doesn't have to be extravagant to make me happy.
Byleth stared at her phone as she awaited Claude's response. Lucky for her, he was on his phone as apparently he too had nothing else to do but text her.
Byleth couldn't say she was complaining about that at all.
haha great i'm glad to hear it ... well since ya had so much fun ig i gotta plan it out now. the place is a couple of streets down from the bar, a lil shop called coffee house. sound good ?
Byleth was surprised to see him want to arrange new plans so early considering they had just pranced around...eleven hours ago!?
It was two in the afternoon!??
o lol i forgot to give u a time .. how's five thirty right before our shift together
Yes, that sounds good. I'll see you there.
Damn. Two already? Byleth had never been a late sleeper, she'd always woken up early without the pleasure of waking up early. Today, she had slept half the day away!
Byleth got out of her bed, hastily making it before walking to the bathroom with her clothes. She took a shower, dragging the brush through her knitted tresses before getting dressed and heading out.
She was surprised to see her father without a bottle in his hand. Jeralt was sitting at the kitchen table, scraggly hair and everything, but he looked a bit less pale and tired than before.
"Dad?"
He didn't respond for awhile, merely just staring at the table in front of him. Byleth pursed her lips together, about to leave when he spoke.
"Your mother said something similar about my tendency to pick up the bottle when things got tough."
Mother...
She was a topic that the two rarely brought up. Sitri Eisner had died giving birth to Byleth, and Jeralt had been devastated. Byleth knew better than to talk about her, considering it was a painful subject for her dad. Hearing him say anything about her meant serious business. Byleth stopped in her tracks before sitting down across from him.
"She...Always knew she'd die early," Jeralt exhaled softly, a sad look in his beaten down eyes. "Even so, she said I had to loosen up. To enjoy what time she had left. I thought that...at least I had you. Even though she was gone, at least I had you, but now..."
"Dad," Byleth interrupted him before he could start crying. He wiped at his eyes, trying to hide his face from her, and Byleth grasped his hand with hers. "...I'm here right now. Remember that..."
"...I've been doing some thinking about what you told me yesterday," Jeralt said. "That we had to take action and try to find a cure...I don't want to have false hope. What if we search, and we find nothing?"
"...But what if we look, and we do find something?" Byleth reminded him softly. "If we do nothing...then I'll die either way. We could at least try. At the very least, we won't be moping around for my last year..."
"Don't say that, Kid," Jeralt shook his head. "...You're right. We're going to take action, and we're going to find you a cure. I swear it."
"Yeah," Byleth agreed, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "We will."
"...And on another note, where were you last night?" Jeralt broke the quaint moment with a curious and suspicious glance. Byleth froze; she thought she had been quiet entering their house!
"Uh...What do you mean?" Byleth tried to lie innocently, but Jeralt just cocked his brow with an amused look. Byleth sighed. "How'd you find out?"
"I went in yesterday at around two thirty to see how you were holding up. Seems we have a lot to discuss, Kid..."
"..Uh, am I in trouble?"
YOU ARE READING
Race Against Time
Fanfiction"BYLETH, YOU'RE DYING." Those were the words Byleth Eisner had heard her entire life...but it had never rang true. She had always known that the doctors were wrong, that she was going to keep living, but the fear of death was constant. Born with a h...
