Edelgard loses control in a chance encounter.

"Monica... What's gotten into you?"

Edelgard tiptoed along Monica's trail in the dark, heading deeper into the depths of Garreg Mach's hidden tunnels. The passage, previously lightly traveled, was seeing more visitors in the current day than it had in the past year. Catherine had exited here; then, Monica had entered; now, Edelgard was following after her strategist as best she could, determined to find out what secret the redhead was hiding from her.

In this case, it turned out her best wasn't very good. Monica had her fire magic, some bravery, and an exceptionally keen memory to guide her. Edelgard, on the other hand, had to stay just out of sight, making sure not to make a sound, in order to tail the other woman. She didn't have her own light source, and, worst of all, she had a unique discomfort in dark, cramped, lonely passages, dungeons especially. Still, she had a steely resolve even on her worst day, and she had a retainer to follow.

Whether Edelgard was tailing Monica to aid her or apprehend her, she wasn't yet sure. Edelgard considered the other woman a friend, but a friend she'd made under strange and recent circumstances, one who could easily be hiding secrets. Unknown factors weren't something the future Adrestian royalty could afford to tolerate. She'd do whatever it turned out she had to do.

Pressing around a corner and stifling her breathing, feeling a bead of sweat rolling down her exposed forehead, she considered for the first time she might be walking into a trap. Had she let her guard down too much at this Academy, with the music and dance that had lately entered her life? Still, even if she realized that, she literally couldn't turn back now. She wouldn't know how to get out by herself. All she could do was follow Monica...

... And Monica was gone. The brief moment Edelgard lost her focus, the redhead had slipped away. Edelgard was left with identical passages on her left and right, as well as a heavy metal door remaining shut in front of her. She sighed, twisting her hair idly. "Foolish. How could I have been so foolish? I can't proceed any further now... I'll only grow more lost down here. Whichever way Monica left, I'm sure she'll come back the same way. So, I wait. In the dark, and the damp..." As she exhaled, she became aware of one more thing to comment on. "And... Oh no." She looked at the shut door with widening, lilac-colored eyes as she started to become aware of noise coming from the other side. It wasn't some beast that she had to fight. No, if that rhythm was what she thought it was, she was in far more danger than that.

As the metal door swung open, Byleth let out a yawn. She tried to decide if, finally, she was going to complain. This new arrangement wasn't what she'd signed up for when she'd left the mercenary life and agreed to teach at the monastery.

It wasn't all bad, of course. Since she was barely getting any teaching done, it was like Rhea was paying her to be private entertainment. The attention from the Archbishop wasn't even bad, although before this Byleth would have assumed there was some deeper reason than a fascination in her ass that Rhea was keeping her around for. But there were too many questions and disturbing implications.

Nights ago, Sothis had managed to protect Byleth from the influence of the Boom Box by taking control of their shared body. Since then, she hadn't bothered. It wasn't just that Sothis had limits to her power: rather, it was clear that her body's partner had a change of heart. Now, she'd transparently orchestrated getting Rhea addicted to the music, and certainly wasn't doing anything to prevent Byleth from being affected. Perhaps through having two minds to mull it over or no ordinary heart to be swayed, Byleth was more aware of the changes her body and outfit were going through. Deeper neckline. Thicker thighs. Tighter shorts... Much tighter shorts. She had a bit of a shock earlier that day when she'd looked in one of the Archbishop's mirrors and recognized she was displaying a bit of butt cleavage, with a racy bit of sheer-paneled underwear peeking up over the belt line. Her body had already been the talk of the academy, glamorous but well-balanced and fit. Now, she was sure there would be even more conversations behind her back.

An ordinary human part of her rebelled against this initially, but Sothis had done good work talking her down from taking action at every turn, convincing her that, yes, maybe it was strange, but nothing was hurting anyone, and how dare she question a divine plan to begin with! Byleth sincerely doubted Sothis had a clear plan behind this, but when she tried digging at it even a bit, her questions were consistently deflected.

Joining up at this Academy had just been playing cards she was dealt. Perhaps the Goddess intended her to play with these cards, too.

Back to the problem at hand. The biggest issue was that Rhea was taking odd sleeping hours now, staying up more during the night and sleeping during the day. Byleth, for all of this, was still a teacher and didn't have that luxury. As much energy as the Boom Box gave her to perform, she was getting exhausted. Thus, rubbing at her eyes, Byleth initially considered what she was looking at in the shadows of the corridor alongside the door could even be a hallucination. It made no sense, otherwise...

Now that the door was open and blaring music, and having stepped outside of Rhea's chamber, Byleth could see one of the Academy's students locked with her arms over her head, pumping her hips in time with the synthetic claps. Not just any student: it was Edelgard von Hresvelg, the leader of the Black Eagles house. She had a terrified look in her unusually wide eyes, and was clearly doing her best to keep her ragged breathing quiet.

Byleth took stock of the situation. Rhea was just behind her. An intruder was just before her, still hidden from Rhea. She kept her back to the doorway behind her... "Are you leaving here any time soon?"

"Mm, no," came the dreamy voice of a mature woman inside. "I have more business to take care of soon. I'd love to join you, but why don't you run along now? Catherine does seem to get a bit testy when you're seen coming or going from here."

Nodding, the teacher shut the door behind her, making sure it was securely shut. Even still, the metallic echo of music came through. Pressed breasts-to-the-wall as she was, Edelgard remained under its influence, and Byleth idly jerked her hips to the same beat. The teacher sashayed closer to the captive student, a bit closer even than was strictly necessary for a subdued conversation. "Edelgard," she whispered into the younger woman's ear, brushing aside a lock of hair as she did so. "What are you doing here?"

"... I could ask you... the same...!" Edelgard hissed back in defiance. Whatever kind of friendly teacher Byleth was above-ground, she was an enemy here until proven otherwise. Edelgard had every expectation she was about to be expelled, arrested, or worse, and all she could think was what duty she could accomplish. She needed to make sure Monica, at least, was protected.

Byleth didn't answer, but she grabbed one of the wrists the House Leader held above her head. "You're shaking."

"You're very observant, Professor," Edelgard hissed back, although she seemed to put a special bit of shimmy into her hips in recognition. She realized her miniskirt was riding up, revealing a shocking bit of red panties against pale flesh.

In spite of herself, Byleth found herself staring. "Not that. Your whole body is shaking. You don't need to be afraid. I'm not turning you in."

The Adrestian noble remained silent for a long pause, keeping her head from Byleth as she tried to gather herself. Finally, she spoke again. "Thank you. I don't understand, but you have my gratitude."

"And yet you're still shaking," Byleth noted. As if to make her point, she let her other hand snake down along Edelgard's body, down to her hip. She felt the tremors everywhere.

"... I don't suppose you're giving me the option to leave you with my thanks?"

Byleth shook her head. Although she wasn't sure why, what she was doing now had begun to feel important. She felt **** but to get further mixed up in it.

Edelgard's breath hitched, then she began talking. It was all she could think of to do in this situation. "... Dungeons. Confined spaces." She gulped, and then added one more. "Loss of control. I... can't stand it. The feeling of losing control of myself and my destiny... I won't go back to it," she growled. "Somehow, by my own power, I have to break free of it."

Byleth considered it as the student continued to slide and struggle futilely in her grasp. She didn't consider words her strong suit, but she tried to find good ones for Edelgard. "You could argue nobody is in control of their destiny. I have some unique powers and some unique abilities. But I didn't ask to be born a mercenary, and I didn't ask for the strange opportunity that put me here, even if I accepted it. Nobody's in control of everything all the time."

"You're twisting it," Edelgard accused her. "You know what I refer to. Not the whims of a Goddess, but the designs of a specific mastermind, to be made a plaything, a puppet. For pity's sake, Professor, I can't even control... my own arse!" she spat, finding now as good of a time as any to speak her thoughts plainly.

"You can," Byleth replied immediately. "You can't stop it, but you can control it. Try doing something else with it. Think about what you want to do with it."

With nothing else to do, Edelgard gave that a shot. She was surprised both at her ability to shift her pattern, and with what she apparently chose to do. Fully aware her skirt had ridden up to give a double-cheeked look at her backside, she thrust her bottom out and began snaking it against the Professor. Not just against her lower body: she felt the female teacher's hands there, brushing against it, just short of sinking fingertips into flesh. She didn't say anything, but she shot Byleth a heated glare, as if to ask her if this was supposed to be any better.

If she'd ever been trying to, the teacher was no longer hiding that she was watching the show. "You're good," she said simply. "You're a natural dancer, aren't you? If you practice, you'll be even better."

Edelgard sighed and continued to frown. "This hardly qualifies as dancing... Yes, I confess I find some pleasure in dancing, but this sort of harlotry isn't the kind of romantic performance I enjoy. The music's all wrong for it, regardless."

"So it's a new type of music and a new type of dancing," Byleth replied with a casual shrug. "Take ownership of it. I didn't ask to be born a mercenary, you didn't ask to be born the daughter of an emperor, and neither of us asked to be in this situation, but here we are. Make the best of it."

"... You have quite a way with words. And with your hands," Edelgard added, before clearing her throat, realizing how that sounded. "I mean to say you have a fresh way with them! You're grabbing me, Professor."

"The music," Byleth shrugged again. She was smiling now. "It's a waste for you not to dance, you know. You're beautiful."

Edelgard knew she couldn't throw a slap or a punch in retaliation to this harassment under the effect of the music, but in her head, at least, she was still shouting at the teacher over the inappropriateness of that remark. She was talking to the heiress of the Empire... no, worse than that, she was now fondling the ass of the heiress of the Empire! If Edelgard wasn't in danger of being thrown out of the Academy at present, she'd have Byleth reported and brought to justice. It was unacceptable that she couldn't retaliate... That she wouldn't retaliate...

That she didn't have a complaint in her mouth. Instead, feeling a strange hammering inside her that she told herself had to be adrenaline, she repeated the word Byleth had said, turning her head to meet the woman's blue eyes. "Beautiful?"

Byleth nodded and held her smile. "Are you ready to leave?"

Edelgard recognized she was being teased and flushed more heavily. "Naturally. No one knows I'm here but the two of us. I need to get back to my people and safety. I don't have time to be sexually harassed by Academy faculty, even one who is particularly adept at flirting. Do they teach mercenaries about inappropriate balances of power in relationships?"

Byleth smirked. She might be the one grabbing the other woman's ass, but she wasn't forcing Edelgard to sensually grind against her fingertips. "First time I've been called an adept flirt."

The offended noble started to retort, but was interrupted when the Professor did something unexpected. Byleth pressed her against the wall and covered her mouth. For a moment, Edelgard considered she was being forcefully assaulted in the worst way possible, before remembering her professor shouldn't have the necessary "equipment" to accomplish that. Still, losing control like this was humiliating and horrifying... and... "H-hot!" Edelgard admitted to herself, feeling her body temperature rise and trying to assign the appropriate source to it. "I'm burning up!" Even as she tried to reason it, her internal thoughts seemed to lose cohesion. She realized with shame that she was still grinding her half-exposed ass into Byleth's lap, much faster now than she had been before. Even more alarmingly, she realized that the teacher was wrapping her free around to cup the student's left breast. This had gone far beyond inappropriate flirting or music-guided hands between two young women in a power imbalance: the Professor was quite clearly humping and groping her student, and the student was quite undeniably turned on by it.

As they remained locked in that indecent pose against the wall, the redhead who'd been passing by moved through none the wiser. She was practically skipping as she muttered something about Edelgard, musings meant only for herself.

As soon as that figure had disappeared into the darkness, Byleth backed off of her student. They managed to stumble far enough from the wall that the spell of music was broken for them, and now that both teacher and student were fully in control, they immediately went about setting their clothes back into normal positions.

Pulling her own miniskirt back down to cover her plush ass (with some effort, she noted grumpily), Edelgard cleared her throat. Noisily. "I'm a respected House Leader. You're a respected professor. If you're not against me, and intend to lead me out of here... We can agree not to speak of this, yes? It would be no good to you personally, and I ought to warn you the full resources of the Empire would go into denial of such an accusation-"

"Calm down," Byleth replied, trying to do the same as she attempted to restore her ordinary cool. "We're on the same page. I'll take you from here, but... Edelgard."

"I have no intention of speaking of that business further," Edelgard replied immediately, trying to look aloof.

"Ignoring that... You can see changes are coming to this Academy. I don't know what Rhea has planned, but I know it's already underway. I think it'll do us all good to think about where we stand and what we want to do. Agreed?"

The Adrestian noble didn't nod or shake her head. "I think it will do you good to consider where you stand personally, Professor. I'll say nothing more. I'm done with what I came here to do, and if you aren't forcing me to tell you what that is, I choose not to do so."

Without any further words, Byleth turned and began leading her student carefully and quietly through the hidden halls of the Academy.

Edelgard followed close behind, holding the other woman's hand tightly, finding the previously claustrophobic tunnels far less concerning with the presence of another warm body. She found herself watching the professor's back... then glancing a bit lower, newly noticing the raunchy shorts and natural sway of Byleth's hips. Then, she found herself speaking again. "Professor, have you considered... not being a professor? Say that, hypothetically... some change was to happen in the Academy. That this craziness, for instance, leads to a change in leadership. There might be a place for you somewhere else... I could repay the favor you granted me today in my home at the Empire, for instance."

Byleth wore a small smirk. "I took more than enough from you to repay a favor just now."

Frowning, the noble raised her free hand, then prepared to...? Startled, Edelgard thought to herself, managing to pause at the last second. "Was I about to... strike Professor Byleth?! Not that she doesn't deserve it, being so cheeky..." Edelgard clenched that hand she'd straightened into a fist as if trying to tame it with discipline. "What's happening to me? It has to be that blasted music... This only reinforces that my House has to be the one to control it. Now that I know where it is, I must find a way, before it can warp my mind any further... Or make the Professor's shorts any tighter," she concluded, **** to admit where her mind really was.