Chapter Text
Bold text is Arval/Agartha/Sothis speaking/thinking or a transformed character. Italics are for flashbacks.
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“No, no, no, no, no, no…” Shez muttered lowly as he trembled on the floor, holding his head with his hands as he lay on the ground.
Edelgard couldn’t help but feel pity for her friend, who was currently having a breakdown of sorts. She wanted to kneel down and comfort him, but she knew that wouldn’t help much. Instead, she turned over to Seteth, who was trying his best to maintain his composure after learning that a student was potentially going to be married soon. “Is there anything we can do about this?” Edelgard asked him, only for Seteth to shake his head.
With a sigh, Seteth looked down at the still panicking Shez. “I’m afraid that is not up to us.” Regrettably, it was his duty to inform the archbishop of this…situation. That was the only word Seteth could use to describe it. “I do wonder if we should inform House Gautier of the situation…”
Catherine cleared her throat nervously. “Uh…that’s probably not a good idea. Shez and his old man don’t exactly have the best relationship” she reminded Seteth. Honestly, she didn’t blame Shez for it. While she firmly disagreed with what he said about Lady Rhea, she could understand why he said it, especially with a father like Matthias. Rhea had told her what happened.
Seteth let out a low hum as he rubbed his chin in thought. “I suppose you have a point. What about his mother? Perhaps she would be willing to talk on behalf of the Gautier family” he suggested. While Sylvain could do this as well, he was merely the heir, while Adelina had much more experience.
Catherine nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think she could handle it. I’ll send word” she said. Not many knew this, but Adelina and Catherine were fairly close. Adelina was one of the people who helped Catherine become the woman she is today. She owed Adelina a lot.
Edelgard somehow managed to drag Shez to the reception hall, where a few of their fellow students were. Shez was still mumbling incoherently as his face was in his arms, which were crossed onto the table. Sylvain was by his brother’s side, rubbing his back comfortingly. “Don’t worry little bro, I’m sure things will be fine” he said soothingly.
Lindhart shook his head in disagreement as he sat between Caspar and Petra. “I do not believe it will be. From what I heard, Hela Kervol is more stubborn than a Bergliez” he commented, giving Caspar a pointed look.
Caspar just rubbed the back of his head in confusion. “Was that a compliment or an insult? I can’t tell…” he told his friend. Linhardt just sighed in response. Typical, clueless Caspar.
Lorenz let out a low hum as he cupped his chin. “I have met Hela Kervol before during a time when House Gloucester’s borders were being threatened by bandits. She is very stubborn indeed.” He frowned slightly when he remembered a certain event. “She kept pestering me to battle her or buy her something nice. She would not drop the issue until she left.”
Shez let out a moan in response to this, making Edelgard glare at Lorenz. “You aren’t helping!” she exclaimed with a threatening glint in her eyes. Lorenz quickly apologized and chose to remain silent to avoid facing the fiery wrath of Edelgard.
“Looks like Shez will have his hands full with this one if the marriage actually goes through” Felix said with a small chuckle. Dimitri gave him a look of disappointment, causing Felix to raise an eyebrow. “What? You heard Lorenz. Hela is stubborn, probably more stubborn than you, which is saying something” Felix said in response to the look Dimitri gave him, taking the chance to insult the prince as well.
‘Agartha, if you’re in there, PLEASE give me a vision that could get me out of this!’ Shez exclaimed in his mind. Silence. No vision, no voice, nothing. ‘DAMNIT!’ Shez wasn’t getting any help from the god inhabiting his body. Perhaps Agartha had never experienced such a dilemma before. Who knows? Then again, maybe Agartha was listening but was too weak to give Shez a vision. That meant there was no one to get advice from. At least, that’s what Shez thought at first.
He noticed Flayn passing by and talking with Cyril about something. Flayn’s green hair made her think about someone. Shez’s eyes went wide in realization. There WAS someone he could get advice from. Shez immediately got up from his seat and started running off. “I’ll be back!” he yelled to his friends as they asked him all where he was going.
Shez immediately left the reception hall and flew out into the sky. He’d probably get chewed out by some of the staff for leaving like this, but he knew it would be worth it.
Byleth dodged a tail swipe from a giant wolf. She grunted and rolled away to avoid being eaten alive by a giant crawler. Being eaten by a giant worm was NOT how she wanted to go out.
“My, you go out for a nice stroll and end up fighting two monsters. How interesting…” Sothis teased her companion. Byleth couldn’t see it, but she knew Sothis was smirking.
“Not helping!” Byleth exclaimed as she flew up into the air and blasted green beams of light down onto the monsters. Thanks to her raw power, the beams created a massive green explosion that wiped out the monsters. Byleth sighed and flew back down, using some of her magic to repair the damaged area. A little trick Sothis taught her. ‘I wish you had taught me this earlier’ Byleth remarked as she started walking back to the camp her father and fellow mercs had put together.
Sothis let out a low, regretful sigh. “I have used this power many times in the past, but the last time I used it was when…’ Sothis trailed off there. Byleth didn’t need to know anything else. Clearly, it was about her time with Agartha.
Byleth was genuinely curious about what led to their fallout, but she wasn’t going to pry. From what she knew, it was pretty bad. The fact that two lovers had tried to kill each other was pretty odd to Byleth, not that she was an expert on romance or anything. Still, she was curious as to what romance would be like. She never imagined a life outside of mercenary work, but finding a lover…
Before Byleth could think about that any further, she instinctively conjured a green dome around herself, blocking a lightning strike. Byleth turned on her heel and saw a tall woman with pitch black hair and a green cloak with black symbols on the back of it. Her eyes were pitch black with no pupils. Internally, Sothis groaned. “Hecate…of course…”
‘Another deity?’ Byleth inquired, pulling out the sword of the creator.
“Yes, but she is far weaker than Baldur and Thor. Just be wary of her witchcraft and necromancy” Sothis warned in a pretty dismissive manner.
Byleth’s eyes widened slightly at that last word. ‘Necro-what?!’ She didn’t receive an answer, as Sothis went to sleep in Byleth’s mind. Byleth rolled her eyes and spoke to the deity attacking her. “Why did you attack me? I have done nothing to you!” she exclaimed.
Hecate laughed malevolently and placed a finger to her lips, tapping playfully. “Hmm…let’s see…you and Agartha’s vessel are responsible for the deaths of the to oafs that owed me a favor, I simply despise Sothis for that little insult she gave me thousands of years ago, and I simply wish to make sure no one is able to stop my plans to rule the world!” she explained.
Shez, who had just arrived and heard Hecate’s explanation, sighed as he hid underneath a tree. “That’s it? Just petty revenge and a desire to rule the world? Not the best villain origin story if you ask me” he said, feeling a little disappointed.
Arval agreed wholeheartedly with that. “Yeah, it’s like she’s just here to provide some action to a chapter in a storybook, not to add anything to its plot.” (A/N: *Whistles innocently*).
Shez yawned and sat down against the tree he was leaning against. “Well, I’m pretty sure Byleth has this covered. What do you think?” he asked Arval as he observed Hecate summon a bunch of skeletal soldiers with various weapons.
“She’s pretty much even with you. I’d say she has this. There is no need for us to get involved.”
Byleth had already noticed Shez’s presence, and she respected that he was confident that she could handle this on her own. Still, the undead soldiers were a bit of a surprise. A few fired arrows at Byleth, but she swiftly deflected them with her sword and fired multiple fireballs at her attackers, destroying them. Unfortunately, the skeletons just came back.
Confused, Byleth blasted the skeletons with a wave of chain lightning from her fingertips that disintegrated multiple skeletons at once, turning them to ash. Once again, they somehow came back. Byleth thought for sure that destroying their bodies completely would do it, but that wasn’t the case. That’s when something caught her eye. Hecate’s body was glowing dark blue, as were the skeletons. ‘If I take her out, the skeletons won’t be an issue’ she realized.
Byleth sheathed her sword and clapped her hands together, sending the skeletons flying away with a powerful gust of wind. Hecate used her witchcraft to pull plant roots from the ground, using them as a shield to avoid being blown away. Byleth threw multiple spinning discs of fire to slice through the plant roots one by one. Hecate barely dodged the last flaming disc by moving to the side.
Byleth warped over to Hecate’s side in a green flash, performing a spinning kick that sent the goddess of witchcraft flying into the tree Shez was sitting under. Shez looked up as some of the leaves fell onto his head. “You good?” he asked Hecate. The response he received was a yell of anger as she started to merge with the tree. Shez immediately flew back as the tree grew in size, most definitely towering over 500 feet. The giant monster resembled Hecate in terms of hair and facial features, but her eyes were monstrous, and her mouth was a mess of vines and wood.
Shez flew next to Byleth as they observed the monster before them. “I’d offer to help out, but I’m pretty sure you’ve got this” he told his fellow mercenary, creating a chair of darkness for him to sit on.
Byleth nodded in agreement. “Yes, I can. You can explain why you’re here after I take care of her” Byleth said before flying down and turning into a human fireball, divebombing the tree monster. Hecate roared in pain as she was sent flying back on her back. Byleth flew back up and tried to perform a flaming dive-kick, but she had to avoid a wave of vines being thrown her way. They tried to tangle her up, but she was too fast to be caught.
Byleth pulled out her sword and sliced through the massive vines that were trying to grab her. Shez, who was still sitting, warped multiple times to avoid any vines that would have fallen onto him had he not avoided them. Looking down, he noticed that the skeletons Byleth had blown away earlier were back. Some tried to attack him using arrows and throwing axes, but Shez just created a purple shield around himself, causing the arrows and axes to bounce off harmlessly.
Back with Hecate and Byleth, Hecate swung her giant wooden arm with surprising speed. Of course, Byleth was still much faster, flying down to avoid the attack and slicing through the arm with her blade. Hecate roared and tried to back away, but Byleth used divine pulse to stop everything aside from Shez, who wasn’t affected by divine pulse.
Shez whistled in admiration as Byleth moved like a blur, slicing multiple parts of the giant tree monster that was frozen in time. Once Byleth was finished, she stood on the ground in front of the monster and snapped her fingers, unfreezing time. Multiple sharp pains went through Hecate’s plant body. Her wooden legs, her remaining arm, and her hair were all sliced apart. As her monstrous body fell, Hecate herself emerged from the tree and tried to escape, but Byleth warped in front of her and stabbed her right in the chest.
Hecate gasped as she coughed up blood. Looking down, she saw what had happened to her. Blood was flowing down her body, and the wound where Byleth had stabbed her was open and visible. Hecate’s eyes rolled back as she fell down from the sky, disappearing in black flames alongside her skeletal minions.
“Not bad Byleth” Shez praised as the pair walked over to Byleth’s camp. He had no real reason to not go. “You handled that pretty well. Hecate was no match for you. Plus, this makes us even in terms of gods we’ve killed, since I killed Baldur, we both killed Thor, and you killed Hecate” he told her.
Byleth stepped over a branch to avoid tripping. “You were keeping count?” she asked, not expecting Shez to take it as some sort of contest. Still, in the short time she has gotten to know him on a personal level, this sounds like something he would do.
Shez shrugged. “Why not? Plus, who knows how many deities are going to come and attack us.” It was a fair point. Ever since the two mercs awakened their godly powers, they’ve been the targets of deities. Hopefully, Hecate will be the last one they fight for some time. “So, how have things been?”
Byleth shrugged. “Well enough. I have come across a few Agarthans here and there, but some of them didn’t even try to attack me. They seemed fairly friendly and even apologetic” she answered. Honestly, it was fairly odd that this happened. Even Sothis was surprised when they directly apologized to her.
Shez thought back to when he first encountered Baldur. That was the first time Agartha took over his body. Shez was aware that Agartha had talked to the Agarthans that weren’t causing trouble, but maybe he also talked to those who were unsure of what to do. Perhaps those Agarthans turned over a new leaf. ‘Well, that makes my job easier’ Shez thought to himself.
When they arrived at the camp, every merc had different reactions to Shez’s presence. Those who knew him were shocked and didn’t mess with him, while those that didn’t ignored him. This wasn’t a bad thing, as Shez didn’t intend on staying too long. Shez looked around for Jeralt, only to realize he wasn’t there. “Where’s the Bladebreaker?” he asked.
“Out with a few of our members on a mission” Byleth responded as she sat down on the ground. Shez did the same, sitting across from Byleth. “Why are you here? Did something happen?” Byleth asked, taking a bite out of some fish.
Shez let out a long sigh and explained everything to Byleth. Hela, the marriage, and the fact that he has almost no way out of this. Byleth was no expert on marriage, but even she knew this marriage wouldn’t be a happy one if it actually went through. When Shez finished explaining, Byleth let out a low hum in response. “I see. Has Agartha given you any advice?” she asked.
Shez shook his head in response. “No, he hasn’t. I’m not sure why. That’s why I want to speak to Sothis. Considering she and Agartha are pretty old-“ Shez let out a gasp of surprise as he quickly dodged a fireball. Shez looked behind him to see the fireball obliterate a tree. ‘Wow…that was close.’
“Do NOT call me old you insolent fool!” Ah, just the person he wanted to talk to. Sothis, now in control of Byleth’s body, put her hand back to her side after using it to throw that fireball. Her glowing green eyes were narrowed, clearly upset by Shez’s comment. “It is very rude to ask a woman her age, let alone a goddess!”
Shez sighed. “Yeah, yeah…I’ve heard THAT before…” he muttered, remembering the time he asked his foster mother about her age out of sheer curiosity. He and Miklan learned a valuable lesson on that day. He was glad he avoided asking women their ages. He’s pretty sure Rhea would kill him if he even tried to GUESS how old she was.
Sothis sighed and calmed down, sitting down and crossing one leg over the other. “Regardless, I can see that you are in quite the predicament. You clearly care deeply for another, yet circumstances beyond your control have forced you onto a new path…” she said, catching Shez off guard a bit.
Shez shook his hands rapidly in denial. “N-No, I’m not in love with anyone else!” he exclaimed.
“You sure about that?” Arval teased. “Pretty sure you were thinking about a certain Imperial-“
‘SHUT UP!’ Shez commanded Arval. He really did not want his friend to make things worse. Shez sighed. “Look, can you just give me some advice about this whole thing? I’m not exactly an expert on this type of thing” he asked Sothis.
Sothis didn’t respond. Instead, she simply placed a finger on Shez’s forehead. The moment her finger touched his head, a wave of memories started to flow into his mind.
“Well, this is NOT how I expected to spend my time in the mortal realm…” Agartha said. Eris, possibly the vainest goddess in existence, started bragging about her newfound romance to some of her followers. She was, of course, dating Apophis, the god of chaos and evil, among other things. He was one of the stronger gods, but still weaker than Sothis and Agartha. (A/N: Seriously, from what I know, this dude was STRONG in the myths.)
Sothis, who was sitting next to Agartha and watching the spectacle, rolled her green eyes and sighed. “She does not let up, does she?” she asked rhetorically, taking a sip of her tea. She and Eris had always been at each other’s throats. Eris was just so arrogant, which was saying something considering how arrogant many other deities were. Not to say all of them were arrogant, but most of them were.
Apophis was one of the more arrogant deities, seeing himself as the rival of Agartha, even though Agartha had no interest in such a rivalry. Obviously, Apophis was jealous of Agartha’s power. Agartha was fairly certain Apophis was planning to kill him at some point, not that it could happen.
Eris, with her big mouth, announced to all of her followers and some of the other gods that she had the most perfect god by her side. She turned to Sothis with a grin. “I’d like to see YOU try and get a man like Apophis. Oh wait, you can’t. You’re too stupid and ugly to get a man” she jabbed, not holding much back with the insult.
Sothis, being fed up with her rival’s constant insults, got up from her seat out of anger, a green aura now surrounding her. The other gods and the mortals took a few steps back out of fear, except for Eris and Agartha, who were used to Sothis’ wrath. Sothis took a few furious steps towards Eris, who wasn’t even intimidated.
When Sothis got close enough, she furiously pointed a finger in Eris’ face. “I have had ENOUGH of your insults! Ever since we met, you have taken EVERY opportunity to insult me! I have done NOTHING to you, yet you still act like you are better than me!” she yelled.
Seiros, who was currently sitting next to Agartha, looked pretty worried. Looking up at the god of the Agarthans, she frowned. “Lord Agartha…is mother always like this?” she asked.
Agartha looked down and smiled warmly. Shaking his head, he answered by saying, “No, but she, like all living beings, has a breaking point.” Agartha looked over at the arguing goddesses and frowned. “Leave it to Eris to push your mother to her limit…” Agartha had witnessed countless feuds and spats between Sothis and Eris. Eris was always the instigator, trying to one up Sothis in any way she could. This eventually escalated when Eris used her power to cause strife between the humans and the Nabateans. Luckily, Agartha, Sothis, and one of Agartha’s eldest children, Epimenides, were able to put a stop to the strife.
Agartha took another sip of his tea as Sothis and Eris continued to argue, ultimately culminating in this. “I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT AGARTHA AND I ARE LOVERS!!!” Sothis exclaimed, shocking everyone in the area, especially Agartha.
Almost immediately, Agartha spat out his tea. He wiped some droplets from his mouth as he thought about what Sothis just said. Sothis herself had also realized what she had just said. ‘Oh no, what have I done?!’ she thought with worry. Still, she couldn’t back down now and let Eris have a win. So, she smiled smugly at Eris’ shocked face. “Surprised that a ‘stupid and ugly’ goddess like me was able to find love in the only other progenitor god?”
This was a gamble, and Sothis knew it. This whole thing relied on Agartha playing along with her ruse. If he didn’t, Eris would NEVER let her live this down, and neither would other deities. When she felt Agartha’s presence moving behind her, she knew that his next words would determine her face.
Luckily for Sothis, Agartha placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, smiling. “Indeed. We’ve been together for some time now, but we haven’t told anyone until now.”
Internally, Sothis sighed in relief, thankful that Agartha was going along with it. Plus, the fact that Eris was stuttering so much in response was music to Sothis’ ears.
Shez was brought out of the memory by Sothis. Shez blinked, regaining his bearings a bit. “Wow, so you two faked dating each other?” he asked the goddess in front of him. This was not something he was expecting to learn.
Sothis nodded and smiled nostalgically. “Yes, we did. We proceeded to act as if we were lovers for nearly 50 years until we finally realized that we truly did love each other, but that is a story for another time.” Those were some of the best days of Sothis’ life, she had to admit. A shame they were long gone now.
Shez let out a low hum in thought. “Okay. Faking a relationship with someone wasn’t what I was hoping for, but it’s a pretty good idea” he said, only to frown when Sothis shakes her head in disapproval. “Did I get the wrong message from that?” Shez asked her, raising an eyebrow.
Sothis shifted her position a bit and nodded. “Yes. While faking a relationship worked well for Agartha and me, it may not work so well for you. Your first option should be to try and convince Hela that things would not work out between the two of you” she told him.
Shez nodded. Still, that fake dating thing was a good idea. ‘I should keep it as a backup plan’ he thought before standing to his feet. “Well, thanks for the talk. I’d stay longer, but I have to get back to the others. I kind of left without any real warning” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Sothis laughed a bit at this. “Then you should return as quickly as you can.”
Shez nodded and warped right back to the monastery. Because he knew its exact location, he didn’t need to fly back. When he returned, he sighed and thought about everything Sothis had shown him. ‘Okay, the main plan is to just try and convince Hela that we just aren’t good enough for each other’ he thought.
Arval, his mental companion, reminded him of something important. “Remember what Lorenz said? She’s too damned stubborn for her own good! That plan won’t work, which is why the main plan should be to pretend you are dating another girl! The goddess would have agreed with me if you had told her how stubborn Hela is!” Arval said, scolding his partner a bit.
Shez shook his head in response. “Let’s try and be a little more optimistic Arval. We’ll have plan B in case plan A goes south, okay?”
Arval sighed at Shez’s stubbornness. ‘Maybe those two really are made for each other’ he thought. “Fine, but we need to find someone who is willing to pretend to be your lover in case we need to use plan B. Any ideas?”
Shez thought about it for a moment. He had a few options, and he’s certain that none of them would mind doing it, but it needed to be convincing. His “partner” would need to be someone he’s already fairly close with, someone who would make sense as a lover. In Shez’s mind, only one person fits the bill. ‘I just hope it doesn’t come to plan B…’