Imperial Year 1175, just south of Derdriu

My Dearest Helga,

It is now nearly a year since I left your side, yet the distance between us still pains me as it did when we first parted ways.

Our current contract is a tad boring, truth be told, mopping up the remainder of the poachers and bandits from the contract in Sauin Village last year (the one with the young girl that followed my father around like a duckling ). None of ours fell, but a few took injuries.

It earned us a fair amount of money, most of my share will go to continue creating my sword. That's coming along well. I have a desire to give it a name, perhaps the next time we meet, you can offer some ideas?

Until we meet again.

Yours Always,

-B

The dark haired man gently folded the letter up, and placed it into a small lacquered box on his desk, and let out a sigh.

He was Byleth Eisner. The Bronze Bear Company's secret weapon. The Ashen Demon. 'That Scary Bastard You Should Never Play Cards With'. The intelligent master of battle that served as either their first, or last resort. Despite being young, only eighteen, he had already garnered a reputation for professionalism and pragmatism. He had been an active mercenary since he was fourteen, much to Captain Jeralt's annoyance and mild disappointment. It was frankly difficult to tell exactly what he expected of his son, given the young man had been all but raised within the Bears. Someone raised around mercenaries is almost certainly going to end up a mercenary, after all.

"Eisner!" A voice from outside his tent broke the pleasant evening silence. Byleth looked up, and stood from his desk. He took his coat off for his bed, and swung it over her shoulders before exiting his tent.

"Which Eisner?" The tones of an annoyed Captain Jeralt filtered into his son's ears as he approached. The younger Eisner observed a pair of new men speaking harsh words with his father. One was tall, with dark hair and a sword. The other, shorter, also with dark hair. But this one carried a bundle of blankets.

"Not you old man." The shorter man spat. "We want your monster of a son."

"Monster?" Jeralt questioned aloud. "Explain."

"We don't answer to you, old man." The tall man declared, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Where is Byleth?"

"...I am here" Byleth himself addressed the tall man in an indifferent tone as he approached. "Can I help you?"

The man screeched and made to swing at the younger man, but a farmer is little match for a trained mercenary. Byleth ducked under his arm and lashed out, striking him hard in the ribs. The taller man reeled back, moving to guard his face, only for his opponent to strike at one of his knees with a brutal kick. As he collapsed to the ground, Byleth struck out at his chin. Blood all but exploded in the tall man's mouth as he bit down hard on his tongue, and he stumbled back clutching at his jaw.

Byleth merely raised an eyebrow. "...Can I help you?" He repeated.

"Just take your damned brat and leave our family alone." The short one spat, striding forward and forcing the bundle into Byleth's arms. It was only after the bundle was in his arms that Byleth finally realised that it was in fact an infant.

Emotion flickered across his face as he looked between the infant and the men. "...My….my...who? W-What?"

"Bour Thithter ith dead becauthe oth bu!" Sputtered the tall one, before turning and stalking away from the camp. "A curth upon you all. May thath brath be your end."

"Does she have a name?" Byleth shouted after them as his words returned to him.

"Why the hell would we give that brat anything?" Was the reply. "Name her what you want. We truly don't care. She cost us Helga."

As the men left the camp, it was clear to all around the younger Eisner that the words hadn't entirely sunk in. Helga had been a young woman that Byleth had been close to a year prior, and perhaps the first person to ever understand how the young mercenary's mind worked. However, none had any idea how close the pair had actually turned out to be.

"Son..?" Jeralt moved to rest a hand on his son's shoulder, only for the younger man the harshly shrug him away.

"Don't touch me."

The elder mercenary recoiled, and stepped away. "...A-Alright son. Just, take a breath."

"Don't fucking tell me to take a breath." Byleth snarled. "Do you understand what it is you've cost me now, Captain?!"

Jeralt let out a sad sigh, and nodded. "...Aye. I do."

"Well that's good, Captain. I need to go and figure out what the hell to do now, sir."

The mere fact that the Ashen Demon was visibly angry was decidedly worrisome for those around him. The young man that carved his way through a horde of bandits alone without so much as an annoyed snort was not often one for outward displays of emotion. Yet here he was, publicly screaming at his father at the top of his lungs as tears rolled down his cheeks.

None of the mercenaries had ever seen him cry before.

The Demon, bundle still in his arms, stalked back into his tent, glancing over his shoulder to coldly ask "Don't you all have duties to be getting on with?"

They proceeded to make themselves scarce. An emotionless Ashen Demon was predictable, even likeable at times given his deadpan sense of humour. An emotional one was most decidedly not predictable and thus far more dangerous.

Jeralt made to go after his son, only for the younger man to snap a harsh "Leave me alone Captain!" before vanishing into his tent, leaving the former knight standing, shocked, in the middle of camp.

Sothis wasn't entirely sure just how it was she had come to be in the situation she was in now. After over a millennia of silence and darkness and nothingness...existence had once more become open to her. Ordinarily, someone would be happy to once again be in the land of the living. Unfortunately, however, there was a catch.

She was an infant. A small, pudgy infant. This posed a problem. She had after all, never been a child as far as she could remember, and thus had no concept of how she should act. So she had done the only thing she could, she cried. Infants did that, she recalled.

Not that anyone had cared. In the three months since she had come into the world, she had only had a few hours of genuine affection, before she had been taken from her mother by her uncles. They were most unpleasant. Spitting curses that she didn't understand, but no doubt directed at her.

Then suddenly, out of the blue, those Uncles had simply dumped her in the arms of a stranger The Dark-Eyed Man, and left her behind.

He was young. Truly young. The Dark-Eyed Man looked down at her with an expression that was entirely unreadable, save for his eyes. Within those, she saw something that she recognised as profound sadness, grief even. But this was soon marched in intensity with something...protective. He sat himself down on his bed as a calm quiet settled in the tent. He rocked her gently, and let out a sigh.

"I'm not a father. I'm a mercenary. A Demon. An unfeeling fuck…" He finally spoke after a number of minutes silence "...and I have no idea what I'm doing."

Sothis let out a giggle. It was always so amusing to see humans fret over such minor things.

"So, I'll make you a deal." The Dark-Eyed Man said seriously, his gaze still on her, but softened now, almost affectionately. "I'll do my best to be a father, raise you well and ensure you are happy. In return, you don't tell the spirit of your mother I just swore in front of you."

"Baaa..!" She babbled. Actually being a child for once was proving to be enjoyable.

He raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching a little. "Was that a yes?"

Sothis paused, before letting out another happy babble. That had worked for the previous question.

"..I'm taking that as a yes, you little gremlin." He let out a short, soft chuckle, before sighing. "...Things are about to get incredibly complicated, aren't they? Especially now I need to figure out what to name you, since you seem to lack even that..."

It was then that Sothis made up her mind. If she was indeed stuck in this form for a few years, she might as well enjoy it. Besides, it might be nice to be a child for once.

What could possibly go wrong?

Gotta give my thanks to the 'Book of Naga' discord for letting me bounce ideas off of them for this one. Got a decent idea how this is going to go, but Unity will be my focus.

I'm probably going to end up doing a 'side stories' fic for this, because there is no way I'll be able to just do adorable interactions between the students and Child!Sothis, much as it would be nice to avoid the deep, deep (probable) heartbreak of canon.