Chapter Text
Lysithea sighed as she approached the door. The trip down into Abyss had already been about as unpleasant as she had anticipated. It smelled bad; a mixture of sewage, and…who knows what else. And residents had been staring at her the whole time like she was some sort of freak.
“I’m not the freak,” she thought to herself, “They are. You’d think they’d never seen someone dressed in a normal student uniform before!”
But almost as soon as she had the thought, she felt guilty about it. Some of the people she’d seen down here were just kids, younger than she was. They weren’t freaks, they were just people. Still, she didn’t like how some of them had looked at her. The whole place put her on edge. Still, she had an errand to do, and she didn’t want to look like a scared, irresponsible child by returning without completing her task. She took a breath and knocked on the wooden door. Almost as soon as she had, she instinctively drew her hand back in repulse. It felt damp and slimy. It was the first thing she had touched since she had come down here, and it had only confirmed for her that she did not, in fact, want to touch anything down here.
Lysithea stood in front of the door and waited. No one responded. She looked around, half to confirm that she was in the right place, but also half because standing still in these dank halls was making her even more nervous than when she had been walking through them.
She braced herself for the slick feeling of damp wood and knocked again, this time with more force.
“He-hello!?” she called out in a voice that sounded weaker than she had wanted it to. She felt her resolve weakening. “Ugh, maybe she’s not even here! Figures! I just want to get out of here and get back to doing something productive!” Lysithea thought to herself.
Just as she was about to leave, the door creaked open slightly, and Lysithea saw a pair of eyes with reddish irises and a tumble of red hair through the crack.
“What do you want?” the owner of the eyes and hair said, and then, without waiting for an answer, continued, “Oh, it’s you! I never expected to see you down here, Little Mouse.”
Lysithea fumed inside, but tried her best to stay professional. She hated that nickname, and Hapi had been using it ever since meeting her in class.
“My name is Lysithea,” she said sternly. “I’m here to deliver a message from the professor.”
Hapi opened the door a bit more and stood up straight. She was at least two heads taller than Lysithea, if not more. Unconsciously, Lysithea turned her face up and stood up as straight as she could as if to make up for the height difference. It irked her somehow.
“The professor wanted to know why you weren’t in class?” she said, trying to sound authoritative.
Hapi didn’t respond immediately and stared at Lysithea for a moment. Lysithea couldn’t help but let her eyes wander to the room behind Hapi now that the door was open more. As unpleasant as most of Abyss had been, the room itself looked clean and tidy enough, if rather bare. And unlike the ones above ground, it had more than one bed… Lysithea shuddered silently at the lack of privacy. She couldn’t imagine having to share a room with someone. Imagine if it were someone like Hilda, who never stopped talking. She’d never get any studying done.
Hapi finally responded, “Which professor?” She tilted her head slightly to the side and looked confused.
Lysithea felt herself snap. Enough was enough! She hated this dank, smelly basement! She hated having to interrupt her schedule to come and find a student who couldn’t be bothered to even come to class! Why had the professor asked her of all people to do this anyway?
“Professor Byleth!” she snapped. “Who else?”
“Oh, Chatterbox!” Hapi smiled.
Lysithea wanted to wipe the smug smirk off of her face. Why did she have to look so proud of herself and her stupid nicknames anyway?
“There’re a whole bunch of professors, Little Mouse, I wasn’t sure which one you meant.”
Lysithea clenched her hands. “MY. NAME. IS. LYSITHEA.” She felt her cheeks flush, and then she thought she felt tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh no,” she thought to herself, “Not now. Not in front of another student. Just don’t cry. Don’t! Don’t!”
The expression on Hapi’s faced changed to one of concern. “Hey,” she started to speak, “Uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that nickname bothered you so much.” She started to extend a hand, as if to put it on Lysithea’s shoulder, but Lysithea jerked away.
Lysithea stopped herself from getting totally overwhelmed through sheer force of will, but she still felt a couple of tears slowly trickle down her cheeks.
Now Hapi looked really worried. She opened the door wider. “Oh my goddess. I’m so sorry. I…I didn’t realize that it bothered you so much. I swear, I won’t call you that anymore, ok?”
Lysithea angrily wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Come on in and sit down, ok? You don’t need to stand out in the hallway like that.” Hapi seemed to realize that Lysithea wouldn’t want to be seen in this state.
Lysithea pushed past Hapi brusquely and stomped over to the one chair in the room. She couldn’t help but notice as she sat in it that there wasn’t a desk. Even as she felt upset, she found herself wondering how anyone could study in a place like this.
After sitting, Lysithea clenched her fists on her legs and breathed to calm herself down. Hapi closed the door and then walked over to the bed and sat down. She looked at Lysithea with concern, but she didn’t speak at first.
Once Lysithea’s breathing slowed, and her shoulders relaxed, Hapi finally spoke again. “Lit…Lysithea. I’m really sorry if that name bothered you. I called you that because I thought it was cute, but I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s fine.” Lysithea said, not feeling fine, but recovering herself enough to want to present herself as in control again. “It’s not even the name really. It’s this place! It smells, and everyone stares at you! How can you live here?”
Almost as soon as she had said it, she regretted it. She realized that it had probably come off as pretty insulting. She had flashbacks to when she had first met Leonie and commented on her patched up bags and tools. She remembered the hurt look—though Leonie had tried to conceal it—that was on Leonie’s face after having her beat up belongings pointed out.
“Here I am trying to be professional about things, and I end up insulting her…” Lysithea thought regretfully. She looked at Hapi’s face for signs of a hurt similar to what she had seen from Leonie that time. But she found Hapi’s expression much harder to read.
“I’m…I’m sorry,” Lysithea mumbled. “I didn’t mean to…”
“Don’t worry about it.” Hapi cut her off. “It stinks down here, yeah. I wouldn’t be living here if I had another option.” She frowned, “But what was that about people bothering you? If anyone down here gave you trouble, you point them out to me and either I’ll take care of them, or I’ll get B to take care of them. You shouldn’t have anyone down here bothering you!”
Lysithea was a little surprised at the tone of anger in Hapi’s voice. Flustered, she replied, “Oh…no. No one actually bothered me. It just felt like they were all staring at me while I was walking here…”
Hapi’s expression relaxed. “Ok. Good. And it better stay that way or someone’s gonna get a beating.” She paused for a moment, then continued, “But, yeah, I bet they were staring at you. People down here are pretty direct. And they’re not used to seeing students from above wandering around down here. Honestly, what was Chatterbox thinking sending you down here?”
Lysithea bristled slightly at the implication that she couldn't take care of herself, but she let it slide.
Hapi kicked off her boots and sat cross-legged on the bed, still looking at Lysithea.
Lysithea was once again shocked at her behavior. She was wearing a skirt, and a short one at that! That was no way for a lady to sit! But she reminded herself that Hapi was a commoner, like some of her other classmates, so she probably hadn’t been taught things like that. That was one lesson Lysithea had received since coming to Garreg Mach. She hadn’t really directly interacted with commoners much before coming here, and she still sometimes had trouble getting used to their strange behavior. She tried not to stare, but she couldn’t help but feel her eyes drawn to Hapi’s open legs.
Hapi seemed to notice where Lysithea’s eyes were looking, and as if it had just occurred to her, she looked down at her own legs and chuckled.
“Oops, sorry! This is a girl’s room, and it’s just me and Coco in here, so I usually just sit however I want, but I guess you’re a noble like Coco, so I should sit like this, right?” She smiled put her knees together with her legs folded off to one side. Then she spoke in imitation of Constance, “Dearest Hapi! You mustn’t sit like that! It’s not lady-like!” Hapi put one hand up in front of her mouth and turned her face in a fake expression of shock.
Lysithea couldn’t help grinning a little. She didn’t usually care much for Hapi’s fooling around, but she had to admit that the impression of Constance, from gesture to voice, was spot on.
Hapi saw Lysithea’s barely concealed smile and smirked herself.
“So, sorry, what was it Chatterbox wanted to tell me? I know you’ve always got your nose in a book studying, so I don’t want to waste your time.”
Lysithea didn’t know whether to feel good that Hapi recognized her work ethic, or annoyed that she had described her as “always having her nose in a book”, but she decided to let it slide and cleared her throat, once again trying to muster as authoritative a tone as she could.
“Professor Byleth,” she said pointedly, emphasizing that the professor’s name was not “Chatterbox”, “wanted to remind you that you weren’t in class today, and to find out why.”
Hapi gave a look of genuine confusion. “Class? Didn’t we just have class yesterday?”
Lysithea sighed, exasperated. “What is that supposed to mean? We have class every day!”
Hapi’s mouth dropped open slightly. “Every day?”
Lysithea was genuinely confused about how to explain this. Did this girl really not know that they had class every day?
“Yes,” she said, trying to sound calm. “We have class every day.” She thought, then she added, “Except for Saturday and Sunday, of course.”
Hapi sat silently for a moment, then asked, “So, like, I should go up to the same place every day then? I thought that Chatterbox was going to come and tell me whenever there was a class…”
“She really hasn’t ever gone to any kind of school, has she?” Lysithea thought to herself. She had been surprised by some of the things her commoner classmates said before, but all of them had at least done some sort of schooling before. Even Leonie said she had gone to a one-room school in her village for a while as a kid.
Lysithea thought about how to explain this further without sounding condescending. She hated condescending people (Claude’s smarmy face flashed briefly into her mind), and she hated being talked down to herself, so she didn’t want to do the same to someone else.
“So…um…you haven’t gone to school before…it sounds like. I mean, I don’t want to imply…I mean…” Lysithea trailed off.
Hapi shook her head. Her face was blank. She didn’t seem to be insulted. Maybe it didn’t even occur to her that she should be insulted.
“No. I had an…unusual childhood. Let’s leave it at that.”
Lysithea nodded silently. But the fact that Hapi hadn’t seemed insulted gave her the confidence that she could explain about school without sounding condescending.
“So, the way it works is, we have class every day at the same time. You need to go to the classroom on your own. The professor doesn’t come and get us. And you need to either remember your schedule, or better yet, you should write it down.”
She paused, again unsure if this next part would sound insulting or not, but she decided to go for it.
“You do know how to read and write, right?”
Hapi nodded, totally unsurprised by the question. “Yeah, I learned that. I may not have gone to school, but my parents, and later another lady, taught me all those things when I was a kid.”
Lysithea wondered who this “other lady” was, but remembered how Hapi had said, “Let’s leave it at that” about her childhood, and Lysithea decided not to pry.
“How have you been showing up to class up until now? You were there most of last week?” Lysithea asked. And it was true. Hapi had only joined their class last week, along with Constance, but she had shown up 3 of the 5 days last week.
“Oh, I just followed Coco where she was going,” Hapi replied, matter-of-factly. “I didn’t really think about it, I guess. I just assumed that Chatterbox had been finding Coco and telling her where to go. But Coco went off to do some magic research today, so I just thought there wasn’t anything going on today!”
Lysithea thought, and remembered professor Hanneman talking to Constance after his lecture yesterday. “That was probably the research professor Hanneman wanted to do with her. So she wasn’t skipping class. A professor asked her for help, so it’s ok to miss class in that case. But you shouldn’t skip class for no reason otherwise.”
“Huh,” Hapi said slouching slightly. “This sounds like a lot of work. I didn’t realize that this is what I was signing up for when I told Chatterbox I’d join the class…”
Lysithea was now in her element. She liked explaining things to people, and the more it became clear that Hapi didn’t know anything about formal schooling at all, the more confident she felt to continue explaining.
“Well, at any rate, it’s important that you come every day so that you don’t miss anything. If you do, you’ll fall behind!”
“Uh-huh,” Hapi said, not totally seeming to comprehend the seriousness of the situation.
Lysithea stared at her for a moment. Then frowned slightly. “It’s important. This is your education. This is your chance to make your life better.” As the words came out, she realized she sounded like her father, and she felt a slight warm feeling of pride at how grown up she sounded.
Hapi smirked. “Well, I’m not gonna get my hopes up about that, but I guess it’s nice that I get to go up to the surface every day instead of just hanging out here.”
They both fell into silence. Lysithea wondered what Hapi meant by not getting her hopes up, but again, she felt like maybe it wasn’t good to pry.
Lysithea remembered suddenly, and continued, “Oh, and even though we don’t have class on weekends normally, sometimes there are special lectures or expeditions, so make sure to pay attention and remember those, or write them down so you don’t miss them. I already know that we have a lecture from professor Manuela this Sunday. It should be interesting. She knows a lot about healing magic!” Lysithea felt excitement even just at the thought of the lecture. She loved it when the other teachers and staff gave lectures since they often had very different perspectives, even if she could do without Seteth’s overly strict adherence to discipline, or Alois’s awful jokes…
Hapi nodded, and swung her feet off the bed and back into her boots. She walked over to a shelf and took a pen and started writing on her arm.
Lysithea looked at her curiously. “What are you doing?”
“Huh? I’m writing down the thing you just said about the lecture on Sunday!”
“On your arm?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Don’t you have any paper?”
Hapi looked around the room. “Hmm…I think Coco might have some? She has a bunch of books, but I shouldn’t write in those.”
Lysithea felt a sense of unease, unlike one she’d ever felt before. No paper? How was Hapi supposed to take notes? How was she supposed to keep a schedule? Lysithea had been surprised enough at Leonie’s habit of reusing scrap paper for note-taking, but not even having any paper at all?”
Hapi smirked suddenly, “I guess I could always run to the toilet if I need some paper, right?”
“What? You mean…use toilet paper? For notes?”
“Hey, paper’s paper, right?”
Lysithea grimaced. This was bad. Did the professor realize what the situation was down here? She hated to think it, but she wasn’t always entirely confident about this former mercenary who had taken charge of her class. He didn’t always seem to be as organized as the other teachers, and Lysithea suspected that this was his first time teaching…
The room fell silent again. Hapi shifted her weight, and seemed to want to say something.
Lysithea picked up on the unease in her posture. “Is something wrong?”
“Um…” Hapi started. “So, if I go to class every day, are you going to be there?”
Lysithea was slightly taken aback. “Of course. I always go to class!”
Hapi still seemed slightly unsure. “Yeah…but Coco didn’t go to class today, so that’s why I didn’t go…so, like, sometimes people don’t go if a professor says so? You said something like that, right?”
“Well, that can happen, but it’s not very often. I think professor Hanneman had some sort of special research that he wanted to do. I only mentioned that to explain…”
Then it occurred to Lysithea, was Hapi nervous about going to class on her own? Lysithea couldn’t imagine being nervous to go to a classroom, but then again, she had been doing this for a number of years now.
“Ok, I promise I’ll be there every day. If a professor asks me to help them out, or if something special comes up, I’ll see if I can do it outside of class time, or at least I’ll let you know. Does that help?”
Hapi looked down, but Lysithea could see a slight smile on her face. “Thanks, Lysithea. I feel a little silly to admit it, but it’s a little scary walking into that classroom with all those people I don’t know when Coco isn’t there. I’m not really used to the whole thing.”
Lysithea stood up, and smiled at Hapi. “It’s not silly. I guess it is new for you. I, uh…” Lysithea stopped for a moment. She had gotten into the habit of not showing weakness at Garreg Mach in an attempt to make up for being the youngest student there, but she decided that since it was just her and Hapi, maybe it was ok. “I’ll admit, I was a little nervous, just a little, about coming down here to find you. I’m not used to Abyss…”
Hapi nodded. “Well, it’s not bad to be nervous down here. Most of the people down here are just normal people, but there are some weird characters around, so it’s not a bad idea to watch your back.”
“In fact,” Hapi continued, “I’ll walk you back up to the surface!”
Lysithea stammered, “What? No, no. I can take care of myself!”
Hapi shook her head. “I know you can. You’re not stupid. But I’ll feel better if I can take a look at who’s hanging around out there today. Maybe I can point out some of the weirdoes you should avoid.”
“Well…” Lysithea didn’t want to be escorted like a child, but she had to admit that she would feel a lot better with someone at her side. “I guess if it makes you feel better, then I could let you accompany me…”
Then she had a thought. “Actually, we need to get you some paper, and some proper books for taking notes. You should come up to my room and I can lend you some stuff to get you started!”
Hapi smiled, and they left the room, with Hapi turning and carefully locking the door behind her. Lysithea realized that she had never locked the door to her dorm room before, and was again struck by how different things were down here. Was there even anything worth stealing in that relatively bare room Hapi shared with Constance?
Then before Lysithea realized, Hapi had grabbed her hand and started walking down the dank hall back towards the exit to the surface.
“Huh? Why, why are you holding my hand! I said you could come and get paper! I’m not a child who needs to be escorted upstairs!”
Hapi looked at her without breaking stride. “What’s being a child have to do with it? Don’t you hold your friends’ hands when you walk with them?”
Lysithea stammered out a response, “N-no! I haven’t done that since I was little!”
Hapi stopped walking and turned to face her. “Do you not want to hold hands?”
Lysithea’s face felt hot. In truth, it was embarrassing. The last time she had held hands with a friend while walking somewhere was years ago. It felt like extremely childish behavior. And yet, she didn’t want to insult Hapi.
Then Lysithea remembered how Leonie had put her arm around her while the first time they had studied together. And she thought about how Raphael was always slapping his friend Ignatz on the back. Was this just a commoner thing to do? To be so touchy?
“I guess I’m just not used to it. Nobles don’t really touch people much when they grow up. It’s considered childish. But…I don’t mean that it’s bad or anything!”
“Huh,” Hapi replied. “I get it. If you’re not used to it, then we don’t have to.” She let go of Lysithea’s hand. “But I wonder why Coco never said anything to me?”
“Maybe it’s different for nobles in the empire?” Lysithea volunteered. “At any rate, it’s fine. I don’t want to be rude, and if it makes you happy…”
Hapi locked eyes with Lysithea and gave her a serious expression. “Lysithea, nothing can make me happy. I am Hapi.”
Lysithea was at a loss for words, but then Hapi closed her eyes and groaned. “Oh, that was bad. I sound like that Alois guy who’s always telling those awful jokes. I’m sorry to subject you to that.”
Lysithea couldn’t help but grin a little. She wasn’t used to bad mouthing teachers, but just this once… She looked around furtively, and then said quietly, “Everyone talks about how stupid his jokes are behind his back.”
“Yeah, well, that’s because they are stupid!” Hapi responded, then followed up, “Though I will give him credit, for a knight, he’s pretty nice.”
And with that, the two of them continued walking towards the exit of Abyss.