It was dark, pure pitch blackness. Flayn's eyes fluttered as she struggled slowly into a semblance of consciousness, her tongue instinctively moving to try and bring relief to her parched lips and mouth. The small moan that escaped her was piteous.

'A… a… are you awake?' A nervous sounding whisper resonated close to Flayn's head. 'Do you need some water?'

It was several minutes before Flayn managed to formulate a reply. 'Thirsty!' She rasped, the act of forcing the word out hurting her dry throat.

'I am going to light a candle so that I can see you properly.' The voice said quietly. 'Close your eyes for a second. It can hurt after the dark.'

Flayn squeezed her eyes shut as directed. She heard the sound of a small flame being brought and even through her closed lids the pinprick of light was intense. She felt a cup being pressed against her lips gently and tried to raise a hand to grab at the vessel, but she appeared to be restained. Flayn's eyes flew open in shock at the realisation that she was unable to move. She sipped and spluttered on the offered water as she attempted to focus and take proper stock of her position.

'Hey, calmly now. Don't struggle so, or you will hurt yourself.' The speaker was a young woman, probably the same sort of age as the students at the Academy. 'I was restrained like you in the beginning too.' The girl continued softly, still aiding Flayn to drink. 'Eventually, though, he decided that I wasn't going to resist the situation anymore, and he gave me a bit more freedom.'

Flayn was unable to take in very much at all. She was laid against something hard but tilted at an angle – not quite upright but not completely horizontal either. There was a band restraining her head from moving, and she could feel the bite of similar straps in places around her arms and legs. Keeping her mind straight was a chore, it was as if she were fighting for vision in a particularly dense fogbank.

'Where?' Flayn let her gaze settle on the woman, her limited eyeline and the sparseness of light, allowing her no other obvious information. 'Who?'

'I have no idea where we are.' The woman said sadly. 'I have been here for a while, though.' She smiled tenuously at Flayn. 'My name is Monica von Ochs.' She supplied helpfully. 'I really don't know when it was that I was taken - but I have spent all of it alone apart from his visits… that is - until he brought you in a few days ago.'

Somewhere in Flayn's subconscious, the girl's name and even appearance meant something that she couldn't quite recall. That wasn't quite the question she had been asking though.

'He, who?' Flayn's impatience was palpable.

Monica's eyes widened, and she shrank back a little. 'The one that took me? It is the same one that took you too. I am talking about the Death Knight, of course!' She murmured.

'Why?' Flayn's eyelids were becoming unbearably heavy. She tried to fight the urge to close them again.

'When I came here… there were signs that there had been another before me.' Tears welled in Monica's eyes. 'Now that he has taken you – I wonder if I have outlived my usefulness. I don't want to die!' Her voice had risen several octaves, and her last pronouncement came out as a wail.

Flayn tried to speak, tried to process. 'My brother will be searching…' She managed to force out.

'We will never be found.' Monica was shaking her head. 'The Death Knight has everyone fooled. He was living among us all the time, and no-one knew!'

'What?'

Monica's eyes glistened with tears - the last sight Flayn saw before her eyes finally gave in to the urge to close, and her mind started to drift. 'The Death Knight, Flayn.' The woman's voice was a low hypnotic hum. 'He is none other than Jeritza von Hyrm.'

'No…!' Blessed unconsciousness swept over Flayn again as her muddled thoughts tried to make sense of what Monica had said.

There was a few minutes pause before Monica poked hard at the slumbering girl.

'You can come out now.' Monica called to the figure in the shadows at the back of the room. 'She is under again.'

'You think yourself quite the actress, don't you Kronya.' Solon said as he made his way forward. 'A little overdramatic for my taste, but you got the job done, I suppose.'

'You are such a critic.' Monica smirked, performing a short weave of magic and flooding the room with light. 'I may as well have a little fun along the way.'

Solon grunted, checking the machine situated behind the tourney that Flayn was strapped too. He took a few moments releasing the glass bottle that had been collating Flayn's blood and replacing it with a fresh one.

'I will be taking the new concoction to Thales tonight.' Solon muttered. 'You are responsible for keeping the girl under control and oblivious to what's happening to her. You will need to feed her the next time she wakes though. The blood removal is set to its lowest level, but she is going to be weak regardless.'

'I know, I get it.' Monica pulled a face. 'I'm not dumb.' She added sourly.

'That is open to interpretation.' Solon replied. 'There will be more of us heading here over the next couple of days.' He added. 'This batch of blood was too important to trust to a new machine, and now that the letting has begun, it would be unwise to unhook the bitch for at least a week.'

'Why?' Monica asked sullenly. 'It would be better just to get her to Shambhala as soon as we can. Keeping her here is begging for trouble.'

Solon shook his head. 'She may not survive the process of being taken off, moved and then reattached again.' He admitted angrily. 'Her body fought the draining in a way that our initial subject did not. I think that whatever ailment it is she suffered before coming to the Monastery weakened her much more deeply that one would suspect just from observing her.'

'Tsk.' Monica sighed. 'I suppose it's not like anyone is likely to find her down here.'

'Regardless, we will manage to extract a great deal of this.' Solon indicated his vial.

'Maybe you can stop the more important bits from falling off Tomas now then.' Monica grinned wickedly at him.

'Let's hope so.' Solon agreed.

~0~

Bernadetta may be many things, but insensitive and unobservant she was not. On their journey thus far she had done her best to keep Sylvain's spirits up, even though Dorothea had tried to warn her off keeping close company with him. She understood where her friend's concern was coming from, of course. Sylvain did have a certain reputation after all – but to Bernie, he had never been anything less than kind and thoughtful. It was only to be expected –Bernie was unlovable and unmarriageable, so why would Sylvain waste his time wooing her anyway. Noting that particular thinking to Dorothea though had also ended in a stern lecture.

As soon as the students were gathered together by Hubert, and at the appearance of the Knight of Serios that would be helping them – Bernie's concern at the strain on Sylvain's face grew so much that her own fear was wiped from her mind completely. She noted the Professor having a quiet word with both him and Felix and hugging the redhead to her compassionately, while he just stood frozen and unresponsive.

'I'm going to see if Sylvain will let me ride with him this morning.' Bernadetta told Dorothea as they readied their mounts to leave. Dorothea's lips took on a straight bloodless line, but she nodded curtly.

'He doesn't look like he's doing so well.' She admitted reluctantly.

'No.' Bernadetta agreed sadly. 'You don't mind?' She added since the two girls typically travelled side by side.

'I will fall in with Balthus. Don't worry about me.' Dorothea replied. 'He's not bad company… for a nobleman.'

'He's kinda funny!' Bernadetta nodded. 'Fearsome when he fights though.' She added thoughtfully.

When the party finally set off, Bernadetta nervously coaxed her horse forward to where Sylvain and Felix were silently riding together.

'C… c… can I join you?' She asked hesitantly.

Felix frowned slightly but it was an improvement on his usual scowl. He looked over at Sylvain who appeared not to have heard the quiet request. The swordsman nodded and shifted aside so that Bernie could slip her mount in between the two of them.

'Hey, Bernie!' Sylvain finally appeared to notice her presence. 'You okay?' He asked automatically.

'Oh!... Um… Yes.' Bernadetta nodded. 'A bit scared, I guess.' She added. 'Um… how are you?'

Sylvain chuckled bitterly. 'Just dandy!' He replied, and then a wave of regret crossed his face. 'Sorry, Bernie. That was rude of me.' He sighed.

'No! It's alright!' Bernadetta insisted. 'Stupid Bernie asked a stupid question.'

'Pfft. You were just showing an interest.' Felix retorted.

'Well, yes… but…'

'Bernie is not stupid!' Sylvain managed a weak smile for her. 'Felix, on the other hand…'

'Bite me!' Felix retorted immediately.

'You two are pretty funny!' Bernadetta looked shyly between them both.

'It's just my natural wit and his silly face.' Sylvain smirked.

'Amusing.' Felix grouched.

'So, did you get any writing done last night after we'd helped out in the village?' Sylvain asked eagerly.

Bernie nodded slowly. 'Well, I did…' She admitted. 'But then something happened this morning, and I suddenly had a new idea to bring to the table.'

'Oh?' Sylvain looked intrigued. 'What happened?' He asked eagerly.

Bernadetta's voice lowered. Both of the boys leaned in towards her to catch her words.

'I went to look for the Professor to let her know that Sir Gilbert was demanding to see her!' Bernadetta told then, her eyes wide and a bemused look on her face. 'She was in a hole in the ground sitting right on top of Hubert!'

'What?' Sylvain's exclamation was louder than he expected. Felix scoffed dismissively.

'Hubert said he was digging a grave, and the Professor said she was practising assassinating him!' Bernadetta stared at Felix when he started to chuckle.

'That sounds about right!' Felix laughed.

'Yes but… it got me thinking!' Bernadetta turned back to Sylvain. 'Wouldn't it be great to add a love triangle to the story?' She asked.

'Huh!' Sylvain ticked over the idea. 'Maybe there could be an evil villain who the Heroine has been promised to in marriage?'

Bernie giggled. 'The Professor has been inundated with marriage requests since she picked up Sword of the Creator!' She nodded enthusiastically.

'Well, that figures.' Sylvain muttered.

'Yeah.' Bernadetta agreed. 'Who wouldn't want to marry her?'

Suddenly Sylvain laughed, genuinely. 'That wasn't quite what I meant, Bernie!' He said. 'Reckon you make a good point though.'

'You two are unbelievable!' Felix was still looking amused, which took the edge of his words. 'Don't either of you have anything better to do than speculate about the Professor's love life?'

'No!' They both answered simultaneously.

Bernie was quietly pleased. She knew it couldn't last long. They would be at the tower before the day was done and Sylvain would have to come face to face with his brother. Families… were complicated. Still – he was smiling right now. Laughing even. She settled into her saddle and continued plotting her next chapters with her biggest fan.

~0~

It had taken a ridiculous amount of time and a whole load of sneaking around for Myles and Jeritza to successfully get out of the Monastery on the back of Myles's wyvern.

'I have never flown before.' Jeritza admitted nervously soon after taking off. He was seated behind Myles and holding onto him for dear life.

'Could you maybe grip me just a little less tightly?' Myles moaned. 'I like you well enough - but damn Jez… if you get any closer we are gonna have to get engaged!'

There was a snort of amusement from behind him. 'Sorry!' Jeritza chuckled, relaxing his arms a bit. 'The takeoff was a little bit scary.'

The initial problem as soon as they had taken to the air was evading the notice of the aerial patrols that Seteth had sent out. He had provided them with as much detail of their likely trajectory as he could, but it definitely wasn't an exact science. On more than one occasion Myles was forced to make a sudden detour when Jeritza spied another unit in the distance.

'This is going to take forever!' Myles moaned miserably.

'They won't be too far out.' Jeritza consoled him. 'Once we have gone far enough, it will no longer be an issue.'

'I know.' Myles sighed. 'I just can't stop thinking of Flayn being held and her blood being taken.'

Jeritza was silent.

'You think it is the same people who messed with you, don't you.' Myles asked astutely.

'Yes.'

'Do you think they will try and involve you again like they did at the Rite?' Myles asked curiously.

'They can hardly do that if I am not at the Monastery.' Jeritza pointed out stoically.

'I just hope Seteth is right and Byleth can somehow magically locate Flayns whereabouts. I gotta admit I have no idea what he's going on about there.'

'Nothing at all would surprise me where Byleth is concerned.' Jeritza smiled softly.

'Oh, man!' Myles teased. 'You have it bad don't you?'

'I have what bad exactly?' Jeritza sounded confused.

'Damn, you two are adorable.' Myles said wistfully.