Chapter Text
Shez had to admit, while she’d been itching for a real fight these past few weeks, she hadn’t expected anything like faceless dark mages, assassins in their underwear, and a Demonic Beast of all things when they’d been given the task of mopping up some bandit remnants. She’d caught herself wondering if the Church was trying to squeeze a two-for-one out of them with this job, before remembering none of them were getting paid for any of this.
Still, none of the enemies they’d faced today had been invincible, and with one final rush of slashes, the house-sized lizard trying to eat them collapsed beneath Shez’s blade, disintegrating into smoke in a way that seemed thankfully final. A round of cheers broke out from the Black Eagles students, and Shez pumped a fist with a whoop of her own, letting Ritzel fade from her hand until it was needed again.
Well, look at that. It seems your tendency to charge bull-like through any obstacle in your path paid off this time, Arval murmured happily in Shez’s head, drowning out the hidden Kronya’s frantic spluttering that this was impossible and that they’d all pay for this.
“Yeah-heah, we did it!” Caspar whooped, tossing his axe in the air. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall!”
Ferdinand jumped aside as the falling axe nearly split his head open. “Ngh, this is still no time to be careless, Caspar… but yes, we have won ourselves a grand victory this day!” he said, tugging the axe out of the ground and handing it back.
“I can’t believe it’s really over,” breathed the red-haired girl they’d pulled from her cell, the one who Edelgard had called Monica. Though she was visibly exhausted, legs trembling beneath her half-starved form, her eyes were bright as she looked at each of them in turn, as if committing each ally’s face to memory. “Thank you all so much for rescuing me.”
“You can thank us by letting us finally leave this place of blood and death,” Linhardt groaned, keeping his eyes averted from the enemy bodies in the courtyard as he healed Petra’s bloodsoaked arm. “This mission was even worse than I expected…”
“Lin,” Dorothea hissed, elbowing him despite not looking much more comfortable in Shez’s eyes. “Don’t say that to the poor thing. She must have been through so much worse than any of us.”
“Oh… no, don’t worry about me,” Monica replied, though the way she shuddered with her red eyes going blank betrayed the smile on her face. “I’m just happy I can see the sun again, really!”
“Nevertheless, we have completed what we came to do, and I agree that it is time to leave,” Edelgard said, gaze lingering briefly on Monica. “Let us get some distance from this foul place…”
A flash of purple light lit up the ground before them, tracing out an enormous magic circle in the dirt, and before their eyes another vast reptilian Beast materialized. It roared at them with deafening force and a torrent of foul air that blew Shez’s hair back, and she grimaced, quickly wiping flecks of its burning spittle off her face. Fine, if another of these things wanted to die that badly, she would be happy to oblige…
Except that a second and third circle were forming as the first Beast appeared, and two more of its kind appeared to menace the students, slavering and growling at them.
Okay. This might actually be more of a problem.
“AHH! They’re coming out of the ground!” Bernadetta wailed, darting back with wide eyes.
“No, it’s some variety of warp magic, but I don’t think that’s the greatest concern here…” Linhardt said, paling.
“Hold steady, everyone!” Edelgard ordered. “No matter your qualms, I promise you, we will still win this. Archers and spellcasters, form a new backline and support us from there.” Hubert nodded, already whispering something to Linhardt as Dorothea moved to calm down Bernadetta. “I will handle one of these Beasts myself,“ Monica showed Edelgard a wide-eyed look of alarm, but Edelgard seemed not to notice as she turned to Shez. “And you will—“
“And I shall fight the other two!” Ferdinand jumped in, grinning and brandishing his lance. “Try not to slow me down, Edelgard!”
“What? No!” Edelgard said, startled. “You work with Caspar and Petra to fight the far one, keep it at bay until Shez or I can assist—”
There was another flash of purple light in the distance. Beneath the entrance, Shez could make out a pale figure in black robes step out from the shadows, some sort of polearm or staff in hand.
“Solon!” Kronya’s voice carried over from wherever she was hiding, and Shez saw her three-tailed figure scurry over to the new arrival. Next to Shez, Edelgard flinched. “What are you doing here?”
“Lady Edelgard…“ Hubert was suddenly by Edelgard’s side, eyes narrowed.
“Yes, I know!” Edelgard hissed back, frustration clear in her voice. Shez could see the lines on her forehead as she looked quickly between the far foes and their own allies, thinking, calculating… “Fall back!” she shouted, voice carrying over the battlefield as the Demonic Beasts roared and stomped closer. “We’ve routed the bandits as we were told! More conflict with this other faction is none of our business.”
“I do not think these beasts are knowing that, Edelgard,” Petra said warningly, raising her sword as the Beasts drew near. “Let me be covering our retreat…“
“No. I’ll do it,” Shez spoke up, stepping forward and turning to face Edelgard. She could practically hear Arval calling her out for this already, but though Petra wasn’t bad, Shez didn’t think anyone but her could handle this.
“…Are you certain?” Edelgard asked, brow furrowing. “Surely you must know the risk.”
Oh, you would think so, but stay with her a little longer and you’ll learn Shez has the survival instincts of the average infant! Arval’s voice echoed in Shez’s head. Ahh, there it was.
Really, though, Shez appreciated how Edelgard had neither dismissed it out of concern nor been instantly willing to let Shez throw her life away. “All I need to do is distract them, and I’m the most mobile fighter that we’ve got by far.” Another thing to thank Arval’s powers for, letting her cover ground in a flash. Concentrating briefly, she jumped through shadows to do just that.
Shez reappeared behind the Beast nearest her allies, slashing its thick back leg and making it roar and twist around to find the cause. “Just go !” she called, ducking beneath a massive claw aimed at her head, jumping back and looking between the three Beasts. “I’ll be right behind you, once you’re clear!”
“Right!” Edelgard replied, nodding sharply and starting to shepherd the Eagles away.
You’d better not come close to death again, Arval muttered to Shez, their voice sounding strained as Shez faced down the trio of giant monsters. I’ll remind you that my power isn’t without limits.
“Please, it’s only three enemies. I could take on more than that in my sleep,” Shez joked, tensing as one of the Beasts started sucking in air and glowing with red energy. Darting away but seeing its head follow her path, she waited another second before flashing through shadows once again, reappearing in the shade of the Beast’s tail as it spat torrents of green liquid at the ground where Shez had just been.
Too close! Arval chastised her, but Shez knew it was fine, she hadn’t even gotten singed or anything. She slashed at this Beast’s tail before running away and circling, trying to keep the three monsters on one side of her to keep from being flanked. Much as she’d keep teasing Arval that she had this, she really didn’t want to see what being bitten by jaws wider than she was tall felt like, and keeping them out of her blind spot was a good way to keep that from happening.
Of course, she also shouldn’t forget about whoever else had warped in, and Shez shot a quick glance towards the entrance to see if any attacks were coming her way…
“Whoa!” A wall of swirling black shadows popped out of thin air in front of her, and Shez had to draw on Arval’s power immediately to keep from slamming face-first into it, rematerializing a few yards away while gasping for breath. “What was that? Is that magic?” she hissed to Arval, staring at the barrier spanning a third of the courtyard.
You would know more of such things than I would, Arval reminded her tensely. Beast, duck—
Shez ducked instinctively, feeling the wind of a blow overhead as the Beast roared angrily. “All right, I’m starting to feel like we’re no longer welcome here,” she muttered, slashing furiously with Ritzel and her steel sword at the monster’s arm. Looking over to her retreating classmates, she could still see them but by this point they looked pretty well clear.
I couldn’t agree more. Let’s make our exit… Shez let Arval take over the job this time of moving her body as purple light, carrying them back in the students’ direction and well away from the fortress and Beasts—
WHAM
Shez stumbled back, on her feet again and with a throbbing pain in her head and, well, everywhere really, as she tried to process what just happened. Another wall of shadows loomed before her, and as she shook the dizziness away it sank in that she’d run right into it.
What just happened - they blocked me?! How did they block me? Arval protested in her mind, aghast, as Shez turned back with a grimace but saw another barrier coming up in the corner of her eye. She tried to jump again but felt Arval’s power still out of reach, and so instead Shez started sprinting, making her way to the edge of the wall blocking her retreat but hissing as another sprouted up just as she reached it.
“Damn it,” Shez breathed, tensing up as she heard a faint rustling noise behind her.
“I would advise you to surrender,” came a man’s oily-sounding voice. Shez turned, slowly, blinking as she saw both the orange-haired Kronya and a… distinctive-looking man, in shapeless black robes but with the same white skin as Kronya had, though wrinkled and aged in his case. His right eye looked tattooed and was entirely black, and he had a truly enormous, veiny forehead that Shez couldn’t help staring at.
Don’t comment on his appearance or head, Arval cut in as Shez opened her mouth.
“I wasn’t gonna,” Shez muttered back, trying to sound suitably offended even if it was a lie.
“Yes, I am sure you did not plan to do so,” the man said, leaning on a gnarled black staff, as the last wall now enclosing them sprouted up behind him. “But I advise you to consider your situation. You are cut off from your allies, but we have no reason to fight each other. If you surrender to us, you will not be harmed.”
“What, really?” Kronya spoke up from the man’s side, eyes widening as she looked at him. “Not even a little harmed?”
“Not unless this one tries to attack us. But I’m sure she has no desire to do that, yes?” the man asked, looking back to Shez.
Shez was feeling a lot of desire to do just that, grip tightening on her swords’ hilts. “Yeah, I’ve heard that ‘cooperate and you won’t be harmed’ line a bunch of times before. Can’t say I’ve ever been one to believe it,” she said, glaring at both the pale figures.
Don’t do anything rash, Arval whispered. I know you’re confident, but this is likely the one even that headstrong princess chose to run from. Solon, I believe.
“Is that so? And yet I have made no move to attack you so far. Only to keep you from fleeing before we could have a conversation. I am Solon,” the man confirmed. “And I think we have a good deal in common with you.”
Shez wanted to say she’d also cut down a lot of bandits or mercenaries who’d tried to convince her they were alike, but she couldn’t help hesitating. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but when fighting Kronya and now when talking to Solon, she’d felt like there was something… familiar about them, or in them. Come to think of it, she might also have gotten that feeling from the mages in the fortress, she’d just killed them too quickly to be sure.
“I’m Shez,” she said after a long moment, lowering her swords an inch. “If you want to convince me to go along with this, then talk.”
“Hmm.” Solon peered at her for a moment. “You appear not to know us, despite your circumstances. Do you not come from Shambhala?”
— Mmgh.
Despite that noise from Arval, they quieted back down immediately afterwards, and Shez didn’t think this was the best time to ask them for clarification. So… “Yeah, I have no idea what ‘Shambhala’ is supposed to be,” Shez said truthfully, staring blankly at the big-headed man. “It sounds more like some kind of food than a place, to me.”
Solon grunted at that, though beside him Kronya let out an amused-sounding snort. “Then if you are so ignorant, why were you interfering with our business here?”
Shez let the insult pass. Arval had called her that enough times that she’d gotten used to it. “Hey, I just came here with my class. You— or, your soldiers, I guess?— were in the way of us leaving, so we fought them.” She shrugged. “Wrong place, wrong time, was all it felt like, to me.”
“Yeah, that’s a likely story,” Kronya muttered, orange eyes narrowing. “You and those stupid beasts destroyed everything I had set up here! No way it was a coincidence.”
“I thought the Beasts were on your side?” Shez asked, blinking in confusion. “I didn’t see them destroying anything. We killed that first one way too quick for it to have the chance, anyway.”
Kronya glowered at Shez, eyes glinting with anger. “Solon, are you sure that we can’t just kill her?” she asked the elderly man.
“That is not your decision to make, Kronya.” He looked back towards Shez. “But my subordinate here tells me you fought with a skill far outmatching the mere students. Even if you wear the uniform of one of them.”
“Well, that’s because— wait, you know our uniform?” Shez asked with a blink, before continuing as Solon’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ve got way more combat experience than they do, is all. I’m really a mercenary by trade, I just got… convinced to join the Academy thanks to some strong-arming from the Church.” Well, and they had made a good argument that she’d get stronger, she supposed.
“Is that so?” Solon’s normal eye glinted and his mouth pulled into a thin smile. “Then if you are a mercenary, perhaps you would consider an offer of new employment. We find ourselves… rather short-handed, after today.” He waved a hand vaguely as Kronya harrumphed.
Well, look at that. I didn’t think he’d be one to joke, Arval mused softly. Still, this is good progress, isn’t it?
“What, really?” Shez felt her eyes widen. She couldn’t deny letting them hire her was probably the smart play, if fighting wasn’t smart here, but something about this still felt off to her. “I don’t get a lot of job offers from people when I’ve just killed a bunch of their friends,” she pointed out. Maybe that was part of it.
“There will be a reckoning for that, but it will come to the one responsible, not you,” Solon said, frowning. “It is terribly obvious that you did not have any idea what you were doing.”
“Gee. Thanks.” Shez wasn’t sure how to take that.
“Further, you can rest assured that neither of us had ‘friends’ per se among the common soldiery. And the bandits… were bandits.” Another thin smile touched Solon’s lips. “Hardly hirelings who we will be quick to mourn.”
“Hey, they were still my minions! I’m not happy they got killed,” Kronya protested, pouting now. “Even if most of them were too dumb to know what end of a blade to use.”
“Well… sorry about that, I guess. But I hope we can still let bygones be bygones and work together?” Shez still wasn’t sure about this, but trying to put a brave face on it seemed like the best idea, and so she dismissed Ritzel and held out a hand for Kronya to shake accordingly.
“Ah, one more question before that is settled,” Solon spoke up, making Shez blink and awkwardly pull back her hand. His eyes, both the black and the normal one, were fixed intently on her now. “Do you know who gave you that power that you possess?”
Shez felt a chill at the question, and felt her mouth clamp shut. She’d promised Arval that she wouldn’t tell anyone about them, and she certainly didn’t trust these two enough to go back on that. But she’d never been the best liar, either.
Don’t tell — but if you have to — mm… Arval sounded uncharacteristically hesitant now. Why can’t I remember more? If I just knew who they all were, what Shambhala was, this would be easy to decide… Frustration was bleeding into their voice.
“…We can leave that be for now.” Startled, Shez focused back on Solon, who now wore a faint smirk. “I can see from your eyes that you do have some idea, even if you’re reluctant to say. Thales will want to speak with you,” he muttered, sounding like that last was to himself. “Give me your hand.”
“Why would Thales want to talk to some nobody like this?” Kronya asked, as Shez held out her hand towards Solon questioningly. The man gestured with his staff, muttering some words Shez couldn't understand, before a five-sided cuff of the same shadowy stuff as the walls appeared around Shez’s wrist, making Kronya brighten up as Shez jerked back her arm in surprise. “Oh! Is she going to be a prisoner after all, then?”
“What the hell! I’m not going to go quietly to be your prisoner,” Shez shouted, calling her sword back to her hand and brandishing it at Solon. “What is this thing you put on me?”
“Calm yourselves, both of you,” Solon said, frowning again. “You are not a prisoner, that construction is merely… an improvisation, to keep you from going wherever you like.” He waved his staff again, and the shadow-walls surrounding them faded away, letting Shez see the pleasant sight of Demonic Beasts feasting on bandit corpses. “Outsiders are not welcome in Shambhala. If you were to go off on your own with that power of yours, it would cause no end of trouble for all of us. Speak to Thales, if you do wish to be given free run of our city.”
Hmph. Listen, I don’t like this either, Arval spoke up now, sounding irritated, But let’s go along with it for now. Until we learn how to get rid of that magic, or learn they don’t have any real plans of removing it, it’s in our best interest to cooperate so they do take it off sooner.
“...Fine,” Shez said reluctantly, letting Ritzel dissipate again. “But if you’re playing me with all of this, I promise you’re going to regret it.”
“I thank you for cooperating.” Solon smiled thinly. “Now, it is time for us to return…” He began chanting again, and a glowing magic circle began shining on the ground beneath their feet, this time.
I hope this isn’t a mistake, Arval murmured over Solon’s casting. Should I have helped you escape when we had the chance?
“There wasn’t any chance. We were trapped, remember?” Shez whispered back.
Only laterally, though. I could have moved you vertically over the walls and out, like when I pulled you to safety when you jumped off those cliffs. But I didn’t, because I… felt something from these two. I wanted to hear what they knew. Shez started at that, but Arval quickly continued. But if we do end up needing to escape, I promise you this - I will not hold back again, and you will have all my power you wish at your disposal.
“All right. I’m holding you to that, buddy.” Though she had some mixed feelings about hearing Arval had let this happen, Shez put on a smile for their sake, just as the magic circle flashed and the world around them turned to darkness.
. . .
Being transported by magic was a new experience for Shez. She knew that the Church and probably some major armies had mages capable of it, but no one she’d ever worked with had been nearly that well-equipped. Whoever exactly these guys were, to be able to pull her through what felt like a swirling vortex of darkness, they obviously had some powerful magic at their disposal.
She knew that, and yet she wasn’t prepared for the sight of where they ended up. She turned around slowly where she’d landed, staring at her surroundings. They stood at the stairs up to a towering building of dark stone, eerie blue lights tracing lines and strange symbols down its walls, with more of the same light glowing from further within.
On either side of the courtyard in which they stood, there was a large glass dome that looked like they had captured lightning in a bottle, constantly changing shape with spiking tendrils moving over the glass but strangely not blinding like the real thing in a storm. The same white-blue illumination traced out paths through the courtyard and outlined streets beyond, and on one off to the right, Shez could see an enormous, bulky figure with the shape of a blade in its hand walking, possibly patrolling.
“Welcome to Shambhala,” Solon’s voice came from behind her, jolting Shez back to the present as she turned to look at him. “Does this, perhaps, bring back any memories for you?”
Shez shook her head slowly, turning her gaze around again. “I would have remembered this.” Gazing up, she realized that she could see neither the sun or any stars; all that was above them, above the stone silhouettes of buildings throughout the city, was a vast expanse of blackness.
I think I remember, Arval whispered as Shez observed. No, but almost — ugh, I can feel memories, but they’re just out of reach…!
“Mm, very well. Come now, there will be time for you to stare aimlessly later.” Solon started up the stairs into the building, cane tapping before him as he walked, and after a second Shez followed.
“So I can go now, right? I don’t think I’m needed for whatever’s going on with her,” Kronya spoke up as they stepped inside what looked like the entrance hall of a fancy building, a pale-skinned figure at a desk in front, elaborate patterns carved into the stone floor in circular formations.
“If you prefer, I can be the one to inform Thales of your failure in the outpost,” Solon said, not bothering with the desk and simply proceeding to the right down a hallway.
Kronya bristled. “That’s cruel, Solon. But fine, I guess I can stick around.” She shot a glare at Shez, which Shez felt was undeserved considering she hadn’t done anything.
“Very good.” Solon nodded. “Having you here also makes it less likely that our mercenary friend will attempt something foolish.”
“Hey, I don’t know what kinda impression you’ve gotten, but I’m not going to just attack someone who wants to hire me,” Shez protested.
“That was not what I had in mind. But by all means, do continue with that one-track mind of yours.” They passed a few more white-skinned people in the halls, each of which did a double-take and either gawked at Shez or hurried along at the sight of her, neither of which did wonders to make her feel welcomed.
Heading up another staircase, and passing a strange twisted construction in the wall with a spark moving up and down its blue glow, it was just a little longer before they arrived at a more ornate-looking door, more symbols carved over the round top of it.
“Wait here for a moment,” Solon told Shez and Kronya, before opening the door and stepping inside.
Shez looked at Kronya and was rewarded by her pointedly looking away, before shrugging and leaning back against the wall to wait. “So, you remember this place? These people? Any of it?” she whispered.
There’s definitely something too familiar about all of it, Arval replied, and as she relaxed Shez could see them floating before her in the hallway now, a pensive look on their face. “But I can’t tell you more than that. I know this is important, and I keep grasping for where memories should be in my mind, but when I reach out for them, I come away empty. It’s really quite maddening.” They looked at Shez for a second. “Have you ever heard of anyone else who’s - lost their memories like this?”
“Huh, I don’t think you’ve ever asked me that before,” Shez murmured, eyebrows raising. Arval must be getting more bothered if they were asking for help, so Shez swallowed the line on her tongue of ‘unless my memory’s going now, too’. “It happens to older people sometimes, but you sure don’t seem old. I’ve read stories where people lost their memories too, because of hitting their head, or a curse…”
“I guess we’re both lucky all of those blows to the head haven’t ruined yours,” Arval snarked, lips curling into their familiar catlike smile.
“Oh, ha ha.” Shez rolled her eyes but felt herself smirking. “Anyway, they were just stories and all, but in all of those, the one who lost their memories did get them back. I might not know how you can with yours, but try not to give up hope of it happening, okay?”
“If you say so.” Arval smiled slightly, but more genuinely this time, at Shez. “I suppose we should discuss what to do about all this…”
The door opened once again, interrupting Arval’s words and breaking Shez’s concentration, making them disappear from sight. Shez felt Kronya’s eyes on her off to the side, but more of her attention was on Solon stepping back out, followed by a tall dark-haired man with dark eyes and a thin mustache and beard, who looked down at Shez intently.
“...Wow, you’re the first one I’ve seen here who looks like they’ve been getting enough sun,” Shez said without thinking, blinking at the man.
Shez. She winced at Arval’s warning tone, trying to ignore how Kronya was now looking at her bug-eyed. "Uh, sorry... sir. Can we just forget I said that?” Shez added, strained.
He stared at her a moment before turning away. “Come inside,” he said, stepping back into the room.
Hesitantly, Shez followed. Inside was an office like she’d seen in the possession of many nobles who’d hired her, which actually stood out from how different it was from the rest of this building - not simply made of stone, the desk was polished and made of wood, and there was a bookcase like any she could have seen in castles aboveground. The one part that was the same was a blue-glowing sphere atop the desk, illuminating the room.
“You may call me Thales,” the man said, standing in the center of the room and motioning for Shez to close the door. “Solon tells me you are a mercenary hired by Edelgard, who ended up disrupting some business of ours?”
“Uh, well, I am a merc, but I just wound up in her class at school, that’s all,” Shez said, biting her lip. “I don’t know what exactly the business that I helped… disrupt was, though.” Other than that it seemed to involve kidnapping, which was really not the kind of work Shez cared for, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, especially right this moment.
Thales nodded, still looking at Shez in a way that was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. “And you go by Shez? Did whoever raised you never call you any other name?”
“Huh?” Shez felt her eyes widen at that. “No, that’s - this is the name my mom gave me. Why wouldn’t it be?…”
She jolted as he abruptly reached out a white-gloved hand, pressing it to her forehead, and the sight of his office around her melted away.
Shez found herself once again in the strange rocky void where she dreamed of Arval, but this time, though she could still see Arval’s ghostly figure floating there, there was a third being present there with them. A pale man in black with a wild white beard and hair, clad in armor and with eyes circles of pure white.
Shez’s eyes barely had time to widen in shock, and she could see Arval with the same expression, before the dream-world receded and she found herself once more in Thales’s office, as he pulled his gloved hand away from her head.
“What the… how did you just—” Shez asked, staring in bewilderment, fear and a confused anger. Had that even been him? What had just happened?
“Just think of me as an old friend of the one you carry within you,” Thales said, smiling widely now. “I simply needed to confirm that you were the one I thought.”
An old friend? One who knows how to enter my mind? Even you can’t do that on your own, Shez… Arval muttered, sounding as lost as Shez felt.
“But, now that has been made clear, I assure you I mean you no harm,” Thales continued, moving around to sit down at his desk, rummaging in one of the drawers. “You will be a guest of ours in Shambhala for the foreseeable future. Although, while I say ‘guest’, I am quite certain that this is in truth a homecoming for you.” He smiled thinly.
Shez felt her mouth drop open as she stared, feeling the world spinning around her. “I’m— I was sure I’ve never been here… why do you think it’s where I’m from?”
“We can discuss the details later. For now, simply know that this is the place where you belong.” Thales reached out a hand towards Shez, offered to shake.
Shez grasped his hand and flinched as she felt a sudden pain in her index finger, pulling back her hand and seeing a drop of ruby blood welling up from the pad.
Thales simply smiled when she looked to him, adjusting a ring that Shez was pretty sure he hadn’t had on his finger a minute before. “So welcome home, to the last bastion of old Agartha.”