History Fanfic / ThreeSouls

* NightmareSequence: Yu's has a nightmare [[spoiler: that doesn't start as one. He is spending time with the Investigation Team, ending with him and Yosuke watching a sunset. But as he reaches out to him, darkness swallows everything]] and he screams. The second one is a fragmentary [[FlashbackNightmare flashback]] about [[spoiler:VideoGame/Persona4 the battle with Adachi in the TV World]].

* DidntSeeThisComing: None of the protagonists anticipated that using the Divine Pulse would switch who is in control of Byleth's body.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The [[spoiler:blue butterfly appearing in several moments where Byleth creates Social Links make it clear that Philemon is watching over the protagonists. Which means that the Velvet Room is in Fódlan.]]
** A shady man near the dorms mentions the Abyss when Byleth buys a replacement tea set for Ferdinand.

** As for Tarot Motifs, see the entry below.
* NoNameGiven: The Gatekeeper, as per his source. Yu lampshades this when he asks Sothis and Byleth what his name is, and they both draw up short with a mutual look of disbelief.

* PsychicLink: The three protagonists all can hear each other's thoughts because they're [[SharingABody sharing the same body]].

* AdaptationExpansion: The story expands on Jeralt's backstory before becoming a Knight of the Church. He also plays a larger role in the story, both he and Byleth regularly seeking each other out.

** Alternate timelines are part of the reason [[spoiler:for the Cognitive Realm to manifest in Fódlan. The barrier between Fódlan's physical world and its cognitive realm are weakening. And this cognitive realm mirrors the state of those of many other timelines created by Divine Pulses, because in each, the war happened and caused misery, pain, and death]].

* DarkWorld: Garreg Mach's counterpart in the cognitive realm [[spoiler:shows the monastery as an abandoned ruin that resembles the state it would be in after the War. The red-black-streaked sky resembles the [[VideoGame/Persona4 TV World]], but everything is absolutely quiet, unmoving except for the Shadows as if time has stopped, and spots on the ground fade in and out view. According to Byleth's Shadow Self, it reflects the collective misery, death, and regret accrued across many, many timelines created by the Divine Pulse where the War happened.]]
-->“Everything is dead here,” Sothis murmurs quietly, floating and sinking to the ground. She leans down and touches the oddly faded grass, grasping a few strands before letting them go. They flutter to the ground without a sound.

* InvisibleToNormals: Nobody else outside of the trio can perceive or touch either Sothis, Yu, or Byleth when they are in their disembodied forms.
* MakeAWish: Yu wishing for 'another chance' is part of the reason that his soul was removed from his body and entered Byleth's. Later he vaguely remembers praying that he would never be alone again. [[spoiler:The story implies that it's the same wish and that he made it while he had to watch Izanami killing his friends.]]

** Byleth, who loathes tea, lives in Garreg Mach where tea parties are a beloved social activity. Sothis and Yu make fun of him for his distaste, some students believe he loves tea, and those who've seen him dunk cider into his tea to destroy the taste are baffled. [[spoiler:His own Shadow claims that it's a pity that he doesn't like tea, to his horror]].

And they're not alone in their mindscape. [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami]] restarted his journey, too, but without memory how it happened, how he has arrived in Fodlan, or why he's now residing in their soul and body.

** Alternate timelines are part of the reason [[spoiler:for the Cognitive Realm to manifest in Fodlan. The barrier between Fodlan's physical world and its cognitive realm are weakening. And this cognitive realm mirrors the state of those of many other timelines created by Divine Pulses, because in each, the war happened and caused misery, pain, and death]].
* AlternateUniverse: Yu's soul crossed the boundaries between the universe of his home and the universe Fodlan is situated in, drawn into Byleth's soul.

* {{Foil}}: Byleth and Yu. Both are rather stoic people and emotionally stunted. In their respective games, they come to live at a location that they're outsiders to after having lived a life where they were moving from place to place. However, Byleth is a (if young) adult who ''couldn't'' process any of his feelings before coming to Garreg Mach, so he's still learning how to recognize and deal with them. He also considers the Blue Lions with a warmth that resembles that of a parent for their child. Meanwhile, Yu is a teenager (16 / 17 years old). He's been feeling empty and lonely his entire life, because he didn't have lasting connections, before moving to Inaba. As Sothis notes, he easily controls his emotions and which he shows to others, including his homesickness from being stranded in Fodlan for an indeterminate time on his own. And unlike Jeralt, Yu's parents don't care for him.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Byleth deals with his loathing of tea by pouring cider into his cup until it doesn't taste like tea anymore.
** Jeralt empties five flasks during Byleth's telling of [[spoiler:Garreg Mach's Shadow World]].

* {{Motif}}: An important recurring element is the concept of (making) wishes. Yu wished for another chance, leading him to Fodlan. Another wish of his was to be never alone again. [[spoiler:The story implies they are the same.]] Byleth wants to protect the students from war. When Yu teaches Byleth how fold paper cranes, Sothis calls Yu out that if [[ThousandOrigamiCranes he could make a wish to the gods]], he would wish to go home.

* WrongContextMagic: Persona magic doesn't exist in Fodlan before Yu arrives. Unlike in the ''Persona Series'', where it's limited to the Collective Unconscious or spaces where the cognitive and physical realms blend into each other, Persona magic can be used in Fodlan's physical realm, because the inhabitants do already use other types of magic. Spells outwardly resemble Faith and Reason magic, but a basic spell like "Dia" is also more powerful than its equivalent in Faith magic, while it seems to drain a larger pool of energy and magic.
** Nothing of Fodlan's magic is capable of [[AnthropomorphicPersonification conjuring part of their own soul]] to fight with them in battles. Yu summoning Izanagi [[spoiler:in the physical realm shocks Jeralt, Byleth, and Sothis]].

The plot follows the story of FE:3H, but it soon becomes clear that something fundamental has shifted with Yu's arrival. On top of that, Byleth is able to drawn on Yu's powers.

** Alternate timelines are part of the reason [[spoiler:for the Cognitive Realm to manifest in Fodlan. The barrier between Fodlan's physical world and its cognitive realm are weakening. And this cognitive realm mirrors the state of those of many other timelines created by Divine Pulses, because in each, the war happened and caused misery, pain, and death.]]

* DoesNotLikeSpam: Byleth's loathing of any kind of tea is a recurring gag in Garreg Mach, because one of the most common social activities among the student body are tea parties.

* InvisibleToNormals: Nobody else outside of the trio can percive or touch either Sothis, Yu, or Byleth when they are in their disembodied forms.

* {{Motif}}: An important recurring element is the concept of (making) wishes. Yu wished for another chance, leading him to Fodlan. Another wish of his was to be never alone again. Byleth wants to protect the students from war. [[spoiler:Shadow Byleth wishes to stop seeing her loved ones dying, and that Byleth and his soulmates stop the encroaching darkness from destroying their world.]]

** This connects back to ''VideoGame/Persona4'' and [[spoiler:the game's true antagonist, Izanami-no-Ookami, a Goddess who is a manifestation of and fulfils humanity's collective desires, but corrupted by the same humanity's growing delusions and wish for ignorance.]]

* PsychicLink: The three people in Byleth's body all can hear each other's thoughts.

** Byleth being oblivious to [[spoiler:Dimitri's crush on him]].
** The shared stoicism between Yu and Byleth, not to mention their [[Main/TheComicallySerious regularly calm or serious reactions to strange situations]], frustrate Sothis to no end. Even [[spoiler:Byleth's Shadow in chapter 8]] gets in on with it!
** Byleth, who loathes tea, being in an environment where tea parties are a beloved social activity. Sothis and Yu make fun of him for it, some students believe he loves tea, and those who've seen him dunk cider into his tea to destroy the taste are baffled. [[spoiler:His own Shadow claims that it's a pity that he doesn't like tea, to his horror.]]

* TarotMotifs: Tarot symbolism appears in several ways in the fic, mixing how they're used in the two games:

* TemporalSickness: Sothis or Byleth using Divine Pulse [[spoiler:has detrimental effects on Yu. Rewinding ten minutes disorientated him to the point of near retching. Rewinding an hour made him fall unconsious.]]

* WakingUpElsewhere: The story starts with both Byleth and Yu waking up in Byleth and Sothis' mindscape. Byleth was in Enbarr several year into the future. Yu was pulled from his home universe.
* WrongContextMagic: Persona magic doesn't exist in Fodlan before Yu arrives. Unlike in the ''Persona Series'', where it's limited to the Collective Unconscious or spaces where the cognitive and physical realms blend into each other, Persona magic can be used in Fodlan's physical realm, because the inhabitants do already use other types of magic. However, it seems that only Byleth can use Yu's powers, not the other way around, because of the nature of their [[SharingABody sharing a body]]. Spells outwardly resemble Faith and Reason magic. A basic spell like "Dia" is also more powerful than its equivalent in Faith magic, while it drains a larger pool of energy.
** Nothing of Fodlan's magic is capable of [[AnthropomorphicPersonification conjuring part of their own soul]] to fight with them in battles. Sothis and Byleth are left speechless the first time they witness Yu summon Izanagi.

* ArcWords: "I am thou, and thou art I", whenever Byleth forms a new Social Link.

* TemporalSickness: So far unexplained, Sothis or Byleth using Divine Pulse [[spoiler:has detrimental effects on Yu. Rewinding ten minutes disorientated him to the point of near retching. Rewinding an hour made him fall unconsious.]]

* WrongContextMagic: Unlike in the ''Persona Series'', where it's limited to the Collective Unconscious or spaces where the cognitive and physical realms blend into each other, Persona magic can be used in Fodlan's physical realm, because the inhabitants do already use other types of magic. However, it seems that only Byleth can use Yu's powers, not the other way around, because of the nature of their [[SharingABody sharing a body]].
** Spells outwardly resemble Faith and Reason magic, but come from different sources. A basic spell like "Dia" is also more powerful than its equivalent in Faith magic, while it drains a larger pool of energy.

** Byleth being oblivious to [[Dimitri's crush on him]].

** Byleth, who loathes tea, being in an environment where tea parties are a beloved social activity. Sothis and Yu make fun of him for it, some students believe he loves tea, and those who've seen him dunk cider into his tea to destroy the taste are baffled. [[Spoiler: His own Shadow claims that it's a pity that he doesn't like tea, to his horror.]]
* SharingABody: With Yu coming to reside in Sothis and Byleth's soul, he also shares Byleth's body. All three of them seem to be able to switch control, although only Yu has switched with him so far and that for a few hours.

** Byleth, through sharing Yu's Wild Card ability, forms Social Links with people around him placed into one of the Major Arcana that reflect the bonds he builds with them. With those people who bear Crests, some of the Social Links align with the Arcana attributed to their Crest, like [[spoiler: the Fraldarius Crest and the Emperor Arcana]].

''Three Souls'', a crossover between ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'' (with elements from Anime/Persona4) released in the year 2020 by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaricFairy12/pseuds/LunaricFairy12 LunaricFairy12]], starts with Byleth Eisner awakening to a familiar voice scolding him. Byleth threw himself into the way of an axe that was flying at Dimitri, believing he had one Divine Pulse left. Instead, he died and Sothis had to turn back time several years to when he saved the three Lordlings.

''Three Souls'', a crossover between ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' and ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' released in the year 2020 by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaricFairy12/pseuds/LunaricFairy12 LunaricFairy12]], starts with Byleth Eisner awakening to a familiar voice scolding him. Byleth threw himself into the way of an axe that was flying at Dimitri, believing he had one Divine Pulse left. Instead, he died and Sothis had to turn back time several years to when he saved the three Lordlings.