#and patricia just wandering about with her memory getting more and more hazy has such hilarious but also angsty potential

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

Loving this

Okay, how has NO ONE written an alternate universe fanfic of the hex arc in s2 but with each member of Sibuna getting a different hex?? Like if Amber was mute, Alfie getting older, Patricia forgetting things, and Fabian getting younger? Or any different combinations. I know each of their hexes were tailored to them specifically, but can you imagine the ridiculousness that could prevail with any sort of combo of the canon hexes

[frozenartscapes]

AN: A continuation of this post. This...got away from me a little...

@patricia-von-arundel Look what you’ve done

---

The Emperor was a fool.

No chains. No cell. Just a regular room with regular windows and regular locks and regular guards. The most done were the cuffs - enchanted metal bands that tempered her magic, weakened it enough so that she couldn’t bring out the Immaculate One. They weren’t even that tight - with enough effort and perhaps some butter, she’d be free of them in no time.

Nothing held her back from ripping that stupid girl apart. Nothing was stopping her from destroying the grand palace and the entire city that seemed to worship that heretic instead of the goddess.

So why couldn’t she do it?

She had made a promise... But what good were words? The goddess knew Edelgard had lied more than enough times in her life. Rhea had, too. Her vow made in the dungeons could have been as much a lie as what she had told the people of Fodlan for generations. Part of her thought it had been.

But just when her rage became a little too great, just when she thought about going on her rampage, it was like the girl knew. And she’d show up to Rhea’s door herself, alone, with a tray of tea or perhaps a book she thought the Archbishop would like.

Kindness. And trust.

It was so stupid.

And yet...it worked.

With good behaviour came more freedom. At first, Rhea wasn’t permitted to leave her room. That was said loosely, however, as there wasn’t much stopping her if she had wanted to. But then she was allowed out on her balcony - she had a balcony of all things!

Then she could leave under the watch of a guard. A single guard. Her. Against one guard. She almost felt sorry for the poor bastard, should she ever decide to act. They wouldn’t stand a chance.

But soon enough she was free to wander the palace on her own. Nothing was stopping her from just...walking out the gates. Back to Garreg Mach. Back to the war and victory against the monster who imprisoned her.

She would stand in the grand entrance of the Imperial Palace and look at those doors. Sometimes they had been left open to allow a pleasant breeze into the stuffy halls, and she could see the gate in the distance. It would be so easy.

But every time, she’d turn around.

She wished she knew why. She still hated that miserable girl with all her heart.

But things were so complicated now.

For so long, she saw the world in stark black and white. Now she was seeing grey.

Edelgard had told her what had happened to her. Rhea understood now why the Emperor had been so...emotional in the dungeons when she found her prisoner. She knew the reason why Edelgard had the same scars they had given her. She, too, had once been nothing more than a test subject, an experiment, a living cadaver.

But that was not where their similarities stopped.

There had once been eleven children of House Hresvelg. Now there was one.

Despite how she felt about the sole survivor, even Rhea couldn’t deny how horrifically sad her story was. She knew how it felt, to be left behind after the bloodshed. To be left alone in the world, the ability to love destroyed, trust and faith shattered, angry at the world and determined to fix it.

She still didn’t agree with the Emperor. Part of her still loathed her. But she understood her, now. Mostly.

She didn’t understand how she could work with those monsters. To Rhea, they were the Agarthans. To Edelgard, they were Those Who Slither in the Dark. A ridiculous name, yet Rhea found it appropriate.

She didn’t understand until one day she heard something.

She was wandering the halls, to nowhere in particular. She was simply admiring the architecture, the art, the ambiance. Red and gold was the dominant colour scheme in the palace and it felt warm, compared to the cool, stone halls of Garreg Mach. She was nowhere near any important room - just somewhere in the expansive marble labyrinth - but she still heard the Emperor’s voice coming from within a nearby chamber. The door had been left open a crack, so she could hear the muffled voices inside.

The Emperor and...a man. She thought maybe his voice sounded familiar, but it was difficult to place. Her memories of him were hazy, distorted...

“How long do you plan on keeping this up, Edelgard,” he sighed, his voice taking on a dangerous edge as he growled her name. Even Rhea shivered from it.

“As long as I wish to,” Edelgard replied, her tone strong and defiant, “And I have no plans to stop in the near future.”

“Do you realize how greatly this is setting us back? The war could be won in a few weeks if you would just-”

“I have no intention of allowing your ‘research’ to continue. If you could call torture research.”

There were the sounds of a struggle. Edelgard gasped in a panic. Rhea couldn’t hold back her curiosity and dared a peek through the crack in the door.

The man was large, imposing. He was dressed in the fine clothes of a noble and had long, slick black hair. And he had the Emperor of Adrestia by her collar.

Suddenly, Rhea was aware of how small Edelgard truly was.

“What did I say about interrupting me?” he growled, his furious face inches from hers.

“I’m...not afraid of you...anymore!” Edelgard gasped as she struggled to fight free. She managed to get one leg up and kicked him forcefully in the gut, and he released her with a grunt. “You crossed the line, Thales. You assured me that your experiments ended with me. If there is one thing I can put an end to in this world, it’s-”

He struck her, hard. Enough to send her reeling. Enough for blood to start seeping out from a cut on her lip. She held her cheek, attempting to relieve the pain, cowering under his intimidating form. “You are naive, my little niece,” he sneered, “It seems the crown has gone to someone’s head. Here you are thinking yourself the Queen... When really you are nothing more than a Pawn.”

To her credit, Rhea thought, Edelgard stood her ground. Despite the shock on her face. Despite the tremble in her body. Despite the fear in her eyes. She wiped the blood from her lip and stood up, tall and proud, defiant in the face of his threat. “I won’t let you hurt her anymore,” she stated, her voice low.

Thales glared down at her for a few agonizing seconds. Rhea found herself holding her breath in anticipation.

But then a grin spread across his face, and a mirthless chuckle escaped his lips. “It’s amusing how you seem to think you stand in my way,” he told her, taking a step forward.

Edelgard took a step back.

“Remember your place, girl,” he continued, the smoothness in his voice disappearing to raw force, “Remember who made you! Without me, you’d just be a snivelling little princess, married off to some lesser noble to be nothing more than a broodmare. I gave you everything - you think you can stand before me now and deny me what I desire? After all that?”

“You gave me nothing!” Edelgard spat, “All you did was take from me!”

He lunged for her again, but this time she was ready. She dodged, then spun around. Dark magic crackled to life around her hand and she sent it flying toward him. In an explosion of purple smoke and shadowy fire, Thales was sent careening across the room, slamming into an old cabinet.

Edelgard stood in the centre of the room. Rhea has witnessed this woman tear through entire squadrons of some of the finest soldiers, all without a moment’s hesitation. She has killed and maimed, set the world alight with the fires of war, and has shown little remorse for it.

Now she was shaking like a leaf in the dead of winter.

Before she had a chance to collect herself, the air fizzled with the sound of electricity seconds before an explosion of light and energy sped toward the Emperor. Edelgard let out a pained cry as the lightning enveloped her, dropping to her knees and gasping for breath.

Thales was upon her in an instant. He had her by the throat this time, rather than the collar, a knee pressed forcefully into her chest to keep her pinned to the ground. Despite how she fought and struggled, she couldn’t get him off her. And fear was weakening her efforts.

“I suppose I should tell you why I wanted to speak with you,” Thales said, reaching into his cloak and pulling out a small syringe filled with glowing green liquid, “Despite your interference, we were able to get something useful out of that woman. I theorize it will enhance your minor Crest. Or it will kill you. Either way, we’re about to find out.”

He tugged at her collar, exposing enough of her neck to find an artery. Rhea’s eyes widened in panic as she watched him bring that syringe full of poison to the Emperor’s neck. Her desperate pleas falling on deaf ears brought tears to the Archbishop’s eyes.

She hated Edelgard. But not this much.

The door flew open with a loud bang, and Thales looked up at the furious Archbishop with bored annoyance.

“Let her go,” Rhea sneered, fists clenched tight. Her magic screamed at her. How she wished she could become the Immaculate One and eat this bastard but the damn cuffs on her wrists stopped her.

Her first real obstacle.

Thales snorted in derision. “I didn’t know beasts cared about little girls,” he commented.

“Let her go,” she repeated dangerously.

“And how do you plan to stop me? You are unarmed and weak. This one was more a threat than you.”

“I defeated Nemesis with nothing more than a dagger,” Rhea growled, “I can beat you with even less.”

Thales met her threat with a smug smirk. “And here I thought only humans had that weakness,” he mused. He chuckled. “That’s good to know.”

He plunged the needle into Edelgard’s neck before Rhea could react, and the liquid was gone before she could reach them. She managed to throw him off the Emperor, but the damage had been done.

Edelgard let out a noise Rhea thought the sombre, quiet girl wasn’t capable of making. A scream - raw, pained, like she was being burned from the inside out.

It caused her to pause, to turn her attention to the Emperor. It was enough hesitation for Thales to warp away.

“Edelgard!” Rhea cried, attempting a healing spell despite the cuffs dulling her magic. It was no use - even if her magic had been at full strength, there was little that could be done about this kind of affliction.

Suddenly, her hatred for the Emperor was forgotten. As the girl on the ground writhed in unimaginable pain, tears streaming from magic-corrupted eyes and clawing at her chest as if attempting to rip her own heart out, Rhea forgot she even was the Emperor.

Guards were at the door in moments, responding to the scream. The Emperor’s shadow pushed his way to the front, and furious olive eyes landed on the Archbishop gently cradling the Emperor in her arms.

Rhea suddenly realized what this must look like.

---

To everyone’s surprise, Hubert had actually been on her side.

At first, he was the only one. But he recognized Thales’ handiwork. Rhea grimly realized how often this sort of thing must have happened for him to do so.

It was by his word alone that she hadn’t been executed on the spot, or thrown back in the dungeons. He had even allowed her to be present now, for some reason. Watching over the Emperor struggling to breathe, unconscious and in pain.

She remembered Hubert from the Academy days. He had always been distrustful of her. She remembered how his eyes would always follow her, watching, waiting for her to reveal something he could use against her. She remembered thinking from early on that she’d have to be careful of Hubert.

But he had confessed that, before she fell into a fitful sleep, Edelgard had managed to tell him that she had been there. That she had tried to save her.

And Rhea didn’t know what to think. That Hubert, as skeptical as he always was, would believe the Emperor so quickly. That Edelgard, in so much agony, had sought to ensure she wouldn’t be blamed for this. That she, Rhea - the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros and declared enemy of Emperor Edelgard Von Hresvelg - was worried for the poor woman.

The world had been so much easier when it was just black and white.

She was alone with the Emperor now. It would be so easy to finish things. To end the war, to defeat her enemy, to win. But the fiery hatred she had once felt had been extinguished. And she was left with the smouldering remains, confused and conflicted and alone in the dark.

Edelgard let out a small moan and curled in on herself a little, hands still clutching her chest a little too tight. Without thinking, Rhea put a hand on her shoulder and conjured a small spell that would help with the pain.

A bitter grin stretched across her face. Edelgard was of House Hresvelg: the House dedicated to Seiros. Everywhere Rhea looked, she saw her Crest. Edelgard herself shared that Crest with her. The Hresvelg’s dedicated themselves to Seiros and asked her specifically for protection.

Rhea knew Edelgard wouldn’t beg a saint for help with anything. She also knew that the girl had likely lost her faith when she probably would have, but no one ever responded. Rhea didn’t want to imagine how many times this child and her siblings might have been calling for her aid based on promises the Church had told them, only for her to not even hear them. Let alone come to help them.

Well...now she finally had.

Another pitiful sound escaped the Emperor’s lips, and she shifted a little more. Unfocused lilac eyes slowly opened, and weakly searched the room. When they met Rhea’s, Edelgard smiled.

“Oh thank the goddess,” Rhea breathed, feeling relief wash over her.

“So... It didn’t kill me,” Edelgard uttered, wincing at the sound of her croaky voice.

“Whatever it was,” Rhea said grimly, “We don’t know what it did do...”

“We’ll find out eventually,” Edelgard assured her, “Right now... I need to...”

“Rest,” Rhea insisted, watching as the Emperor struggled to stay awake, “I’ll be here to make sure you’re safe.”

Edelgard shifted onto her side, and let out a heavy breath as her eyes drifted shut. That smile never left her lips. “Who’d have thought...” she murmured, “You of all people...”

Rhea let out a breathy chuckle. “Certainly not me,” she sighed.

“Rhea?” Edelgard was barely awake, now, and her voice was so small and sleepy she sounded more like a child asking for a bedtime story than a fearsome Emperor.

“Yes, my child?” Rhea asked, softly, once more forgetting just who the woman in bed truly was.

“Thank you.”

A small smile tugged at the edges of the Archbishop’s lips. ‘Alright,’ she conceded, ‘Perhaps the Emperor isn’t that much of a fool...’