It all seems to happen out of order. From a young age, Byleth has to learn to defend himself. His life is quiet lulls with violent conflicts peppered in, and Byleth becomes an efficient killing machine. He does not enjoy it, but it is his simply his job.

Eventually though, he begins to soften. He begins to understand.

He begins to love.

The rest is chaos. Some of it, Themis knows. Some of it, he doesn't. Layers upon layers of inherited memories. The confusion and conflict of being uncertain if his feelings are even his own any more.

Themis will wake with a pounding, screaming headache, and the alarmingly familiar sense of being... a multitude. Something he has unfortunately experienced before.

The loss of the self.

Like a vibrating image, eventually, each reality slides back into place, forming a whole.