Author's notes: Two more dreamers revealed, one being my volunteer. (Oh, this is gonna be funny later on.) ARE YOU EXCITED, GUYS? Okay.

I don't have music for this one, I was listening to some unfitting stuff the whole time. I'm also damn tired. Please let this chapter not be shit.

Enjoy!

Aw, shit. Really?

As fucked up as Nin's sleeping schedule it, she just got seven hours of straight sleep. She should not be down like this. Her face is on her keyboard, for fuck's sake. Okay, I'll just kinda haul her to her bed. Fucking shit! People are heavy. I manage to flop her off her chair; her slumber is undisturbed.

I bend over her desk just a little and delete all of the keyboard mashings she just entered into her Word document. My eyes glance to the clock: 6:50. I have ten minutes before I fall asleep myself. This is not good. I shut off her computer and see about dragging Nin to bed.

I might be good at spearing people, but definitely not carrying them. And Nin's... Well, she's not exactly a stick like I am, so she's a job to haul. Ngghhhh... Okay. What's the time? Made it by three minutes. Three minutes to change into my pajamas, I can do this. Hurry!

I literally just crawled onto my bed and now I'm down. Fuck.

I'm running from tent to tent just for the sake of expending this nervous energy. My feet hit the dirt with serious gusto and kick up dust like a horse. Duck besides Sully, don't punch Robin. "Shit shit shit!"

Shio sees me and grabs my arm, stopping me. I stomp in place to keep burning energy. "Is something wrong?" THE CLUELESS LITTLE–

Panting and screaming: "Nin's a dreamer! She just fell asleep, I had to haul her into bed before falling asleep myself!" Everything's blurry, I have to find Nin, wherever she is, I have to make sure she's okay. Oh, gods, please, let her be okay. Please–

"Welp." Shio cuts across my thoughts.

Snap. "'WELP?!'" I scream and protest Shio's apparent lack of care. NIN IS IN DANGER WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. "What the shit, Shio, I thought you–"

Welsh puts both hands on my shoulders to hold me in place and calm me down. He only achieves the former. "Hey, calm down, Shanz."

I take a quick, deep breath and blast him in the face with words: "ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IS POSSIBLY IN MORTAL DANGER, HOW CAN I–"

He lightly slaps me. "Stop having a panic attack."

I raise up a fist and punch him in the jaw; he tries to move to block but fails, not having seen that coming. I've knocked him onto the ground, and a shout follows him: "That's anxiety attack to you, fuckass!"

It finally hits Shio, the fucking slowpoke. "Oh gods." She approaches me and wraps her arms around me, forcing me to stay still so I can note the palpitations of my heart which are not helping me relax! "She'll be fine, don't worry. Everything's going to be fine." Sure sure just keep your arms there and keep holding me and maybe I'll believe you. Oh, gods, Nin.

The baritone of Chrom's voice intersects my thoughts. "Is the whole camp in a panic?" He sounds worried WELL GUESS WHAT IF THEY WERE ALL ME THEN THEY WOULD BE!

"FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS, IT'S A FUCKING ANXIETY ATTACK!" I scream at him. Okay, deep breaths... Calm your shit. Calm down. Okay. The palpitations are within normal range. Phew. Okay. Okay. I cover my face in shame.

I hear him sigh in relief, probably because it's just me, and I'm calming down. "You frightened me for a moment... I thought word had gotten out that our messenger hadn't returned." I look up at him, and... Wow, he's genuinely concerned. I just... Oh, crap, there went my words. Let me sum it up: It really touches me that he cares.

But this is still news to me, the messenger bit. "Well, thanks to you," I sigh tiredly, "it just did." I could just lose myself in those eyes... What a bright blue.

His eyes widen briefly, then he groans and slaps his forehead. "One of Emm's pegasus knights is missing... Don't tell anyone." I suppose he figured that in exchange for our secrecy, we ought to know the full details. Well, okay.

This bodes ill, but that's dead obvious. "It looks like Gangrel broke the rule of 'don't shoot the messenger...'" So... Free pegasus? Can I have it?

In palpable consternation, Chrom shushes me. "Can I ask you three not to spread it around? That could hurt morale." Welsh and Shio nod, and I just know Welsh was going to say some smart-ass remark like "I dunno, how much are ya gonna pay me" if Shio hadn't elbowed him.

I draw myself up, possessing now the composure to do so without a friend's comforting embrace. "No problem, boss... Just don't tell anyone I just had an anxiety attack." Nobody needs to know I'm a wimp. I did NOT use to have these.

Chrom nods, relieved. "Fair trade." He turns and walks away, his tattered cape swishing along the way. If I didn't have this badass fucking coat, I'd want a cape, myself.

A staggered sigh escapes my lungs. "Ohh," I groan, eager to sooth my nerves, "I can't wait until the battle..."

Why the hell did Robin decide to put me on the front line?

I appreciate the proximity to Chrom– it has a hell of a calming effect on my nerves– but I just know I'm going to get killed or seriously injured. I mean, come on. Really, Robin? You're just begging me to do something stupid.

I try not to show my doubts on my face. I'm trying to stand at attention stoically, you know, heels together, spear slightly off the ground. I mean, I'm standing with the other Shepherds, and we're right behind Chrom and trying to stare down the Plegians. So, impressive military stance? Must-have. Show no fear, doubts, that kind of crap. Be offensive, not defensive.

Chrom is just quietly observing the parley, having nothing to say. He's already said he sucks with negotiations, so he probably figures he'd just botch this if he opened his mouth. As for why my eyes are on him, he's our fearless leader; the general rule is to do as he does. His head turns around a little, his attention drifting to the scenery. Good idea... If there were archers or something hidden in the rocks and bushes, it'd be a dumb idea to not look for them. Wait, he looks surprised, no, slightly astonished... (you know I'm bored when I'm nitpicking over diction.) "Is that our messenger?" I hear him mumble. I follow his gaze, trying to find what he's staring at. "That's her pegasus... No, the rider's not in the uniform..." Finally, he sighs and resigns himself to it. "Safe to say our messenger's dead, then."

Where is this pegasu– Ah, found it. Yep, that's not the PK uniform, that's... "Wait..." Good god. That's a printed blue T-shirt and green fluffy pants, little white spots. Brown hair that barely meets the shoulder, flat nose, the glare of glasses... "Holy fuck."

Chrom glances behind him, having heard me swear. "Hm?" I imagine my tone of voice boded ill, like I'd seen a hidden ambush or something. Nope...

That's gotta be... There's no way... This is going to suck. This is going to suck immensely. "HOLY FUCK."

Next to me, Shio tries to see what I'm looking at. "Shanz, what is it–"

"HOLY MOTHERFUCK, IT'S NINEEYENA!" I briefly hesitate, wondering what to do. Inform Robin? No, no, be furtive, generally a bad idea. Make excuse later, when you have all the details.

"Who?" Chrom asks, waving a hand to try and quiet me. After all, there are negotiations going on!

Robin notices me getting twitchy, and calls out a moment too late: "Shanzira, don't– SHANZIRA!"

I've already bolted. "NINNY!" I have to reach her before anyone else, or she's dead! I can't let the Plegians near her! Oh my fuck oh my gods Nin, please live, please be okay, I don't see any red, please don't die!

I hear the sound of Gangrel's surprisingly smooth voice, delight evident: "Well, hello, is that one of your soldiers trespassing in Plegian territory? My my, Your Shininess... Such dogs need to be PUNISHED! GAHAHA! Soldiers, the Emblem, if you please!" Good gods, why is his voice sexy?!

No, don't stop, keep running! Get to Nin, NOW! I hear a thud and Chrom's voice: "Stay back, or you'll share his fate!"

"What a perfect declaration of war!" Gangrel guffaws. "Control your dogs better, Your Sparkliness; these ladies of yours will be responsible for the fall of House Ylisse if you're not careful! ... What am I saying?" This comes with a brief bark of laughter: "They already are!"

I slide to a stop in front of the pegasus, notably winded. I look up at my roommate, ignoring the overpowering urge to bend over and heave. "Nin, are you–"

OUCH! WHO JUST SLAPPED ME?! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! Or I would, if I weren't short of breath and on the ground right now! I look up and regard a tall asshole with a messed up nose and brownish-red hair. Oh, and he wields a sword and shield, I see. "Do you even REALIZE what the fuck you just did?!" He screams at me in... Why does that accent ring bells?

I painstakingly stand, screaming at my stomach to stay unknotted. "You, shut up! I'm getting my friend to safe territory and YOU CAN'T STOP ME! Nin!" I regard my friend again. "You need help flying?"

She gets my idea, that she ought to fly to Chrom's army for safety. "Well... Riding a pegasus can't be that different from riding a horse..." Yeah, but there are still two new directions you have to deal with: Up and down. Better teach her. I begin to climb aboard the saddle behind Nin.

"Excuse me," yells a panicking Mr. Tall (I don't have anything better to call him! Besides, he really is tall!), "but what about me?!" What the hell is WITH his accent? What is it? Arrrgghhh! It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't identify it!

I start to strap Nin in, because she was only sitting atop the pegasus (if it flew upside down, she'd have fallen off). "You can't exactly ride a pegasus," and this comes out while I'm busy with my fingerwork, "girls only."

In a more peaceful situation, his panicked squawk would be humorous: "You'd just leave me to fucking die here?!"

"You'll burn out your vocal cords if you're not careful." Coolly and cruelly. Aw, shit, this is going to bite me in the ass so hard.

The unnaturally high pitch of his response both amuses and unnerves me. "You bitch!"

I hesitate. Shit, I... Damn it, why do I have to be moral?! "Oh, the hell with it. Nin," I say as I hope off, "you pull the reins up or down to go in those directions, otherwise it's just like riding a horse." My feet meet the ground; I don't crumple to it, unlike the last time I rode one of these suckers. "Get going!"

Startled: "Eh?! Okay!" I slap the winged horse's butt; she flies off before the tall guy can protest. He proceeds to do so anyways.

"What did you just do, you idiot?!"

I turn to face him, chest out and heels together, at attention. I take his appearance in, or rather, his clothes: Chainmail over a black tunic, with blue pants, white gloves, and brown boots. Guy has no color sense whatsoever. I scoff at him. "I can't protect two people at once. Nin can reach Chrom's army faster than either of us on our own can, so she'll be safest."

His eye twitches. "... You're a fucking idiot."

I turn around, assuming a ready position with my spear. "I have paragon, I level like a ninja."

"Wait," he stumbles in shock, "you're–"

"A dreamer, yes." Straighten out; no enemies too close by, so no point in exhausting myself. "Figured you were as well from your accent. What is that, Scottish?" Finally, I can get a clue as to what the fuck it is!

"Yes, actually." SCORE FOR ME! I'M NOT A TOTAL DUMBASS! "What's your name?"

Still watching for Plegian soldiers, I answer, "call me Shanzira. Or Shanz, Shanzy... Nobody uses the full name except Robin. And you? Nobody goes by their real names here, so you might as well pick a nickname."

He sounds slightly surprised at this. "Really? Well, I can work with this. Uh, Eldrad."

Well met, Eldrad. "Okay." Ah, there are a few mooks coming down the cliff at us. But they're not too close, so I don't bother with my stance just yet.

"It's a 40K reference, don't worry about it." Whatever the hell 40K is. Wait, I remember this one guy saying he was into it.

"Only heard about it from an internet friend. A tabletop rpg of some sort?" Didn't he say it was Warhammer or something?

Eager to explain, he takes in a breath. "It's–" But then he sees the Plegians come within twenty paces of us, so he stops himself. "Sod that, we have work to do."

A tactical question crosses my mind: "Tomes or spears, tomes or spears... Tomes!" I dig the blade of my spear into the dirt and whip out my thunder tome. Kill as many as I can from a distance, then pull out the spear. Okay. Chant, lightning crackles along my arm, then shoots out at them (so different from the game! It's so much cooler, too. I could squee). ZZZAP. I fire as many of these bolts as I can before the ones still alive reach me. They're almost here, crap, I can't put away my tome fast enough, okay why is my spear stuck, I didn't jam it in that hard, shit, shit, shit–

And then the two going after me reel, having been slammed in the face with a shield. That was Eldrad? Welp, looks like– oh, damn, there's a spike on that sucker. And one of those Plegians got stabbed with it. Nice... Ew, blood. Okay, just, um, grab your damn spear, Shanz, and get to work shanking these guys. Yoink. Stabby Mcstab... Haven't I made that joke already? Yeah, be pretty lame to make it twice. Butt-spike the face, back to my impaling spree. Now that my spear's free of the ground, I can move, and I attempt to turn the skirmish so we can make our way to Chrom's army for assistance (and protection). I've felled six soldiers, Eldrad two, and I'm in much better shape than him: I've got a nick to the knee, he's bleeding from the shoulder– the shoulder opposite his shield, mind.

I offer him a vulnerary in a moment of respite. "That shield of yours reminds me of a story I once read. How's it so ridiculously OP?" The damn thing is unbreakable, and it's a cross between a buckler and a heater, but round, like a kite shield. (Take a trip to Wikipedia if you're confused.)

He shrugs then winces due to his wound, gladly taking the salve and applying it. "It just is. I found it in some ruins in Plegia."

Sigh. "Robin's going to have a field day. Come on, we're almost there!" I straighten myself out, noting that the Ylissean front line is closer, and I grab Eldrad's hand and pull him forward. Arrows bounce– yes, bounce– off his shield as we approach, but one lodges itself in my leg. "FUCK!" With a great deal of effort, I keep running, ignoring the pain lancing up and the sticky blood spreading through the fabric of my jeans. (Yeah, I'm wearing jeans. Hush. No one needs to know.)

Frederick, Stahl, and Sully all ride forward to escort us back, presumably on Robin's orders. Frederick picks me up; Sully, Eldrad. We're plopped down a short ways behind the line, and the cavaliers ride off to rejoin the fray. Robin storms over to me, fuming.

I preempt her defensively. "Sorry about that!"

She picks me up by the front of my shirt, damn she's strong. And tall. "You should be! Do you have no regard for your own life?!" Ah, it's the arrow in my leg she's pointing at. Well, at least it didn't hit my torso, that could've done damage to my organs.

"Look," aw, crap, every time I preface something with that word it means I've been cornered, and I generally try to avoid that appearance, "she's–" I point to where Nin is, still sitting on her pegasus behind all the soldiers– "a friend of mine, and I want to keep her safe!"

Chrom booms above either of us; damn, guys can be loud when they want to. With one gloved hand, he directs our attention to the nearby slaughter. "We can argue about this later, right now, we have a battle to win!"

"And I somehow get ignored," Eldrad sighs.

I stop myself from slapping him for that. "Don't complain, just fight!" I toss him towards the fray, unable to move much for the dAMN ARROW IN MY LEG GODS DAMN IT LISSA! Why does that have to HURTEFGTDNDFNJKLC IT ITCHES! Didn't I resolve never to get shot again?! Ugh! I'm so stupid, I let this happen! This is exactly like the night we found Shio!

Regardless, I can stand now and the bleeding's stopped. I rise to my feet, ignoring the heat and tightness in my quadriceps. My hand meets Lissa's pigtails, then I raise my spear and dive into the fray. Pretty sure I see Ricken and Maribelle on a ledge up there, and we need to save their asses. I rope Shio, Welsh, and Eldrad into helping me with this. Four out of five dreamers, fighting together... And we'll have to be sure to teach Nin to fight. I'd like the five dreamers to be epically awesome and worthy of song. I can see it now, though I'll probably be the one to pen it. Or Nin will, she's an epic writer.

Eldrad, being the one with the indestructible shield, is at the fore; I stand to the right, Welsh to the left, and Shio's behind us, casting magic. We push our rhombus up the cliff, past the soldiers, come on, we're nearly there!

Once they're close enough to shout to, I yell: "RICKEN, MARIBELLE, GET OVER HERE! WE'LL ESCORT YOU TO SAFETY!"

Maribelle's practically fuming at the thought of taking my orders, but she pulls Ricken onto her horse– where the hell did that thing come from, does she keep it stuffed in hammerspace?– and rides to us, and we reform our rhombus around her and begin a hasty sojourn back. Although Eldrad, Welsh, and I have picked up a few wounds, they're nothing serious, and we're still able to fight when we get back.

Or maybe not. My legs just buckled underneath me. "Fuck!" I guess I was more tired than I thought! Damn it. Okay, fine! I'll just CRAWL back to find Lissa, and she'll heal me. Okay, healed. I sit on the ground, and I hear footsteps and hoofsteps approach. Hello, Nin.

"Shouldn't you be fighting?" Damn, how scared are you, buddy? I've never heard you speak with such a high pitch.

I pant by way of answering, "Exhausted." A few seconds pass as I catch my breath before I ask, "how're you holding up?" Tilt head to see her.

Her arms are wrapped around her torso, and her knees and toes are meeting. "I got shot at once or twice, but they all missed." Okay, wow. She's... terrified. I need to help her. I keep forgetting she has anxiety, too... I'm an idiot.

If nothing else, though, she's unwounded. "Good." I stand up, satisfied with my respite. Looks like my legs recovered, too. "I need to rejoin the battle."

When she calls after me, she's almost weeping: "Don't die, Shanzira!"

I swear to you, Nin, I won't. I swear to you, Shio, and Welsh that I will survive this fight.

I run up to find Sumia, and she lets me clamber onto Caeda. "Sorry about that shenanigan." That was me.

"I w–was really scared, Shanzira... YAH!" She pulls the reins back, then rushes forward and impales a shellfish knight. She's so timid, yet so fierce. What an oxymoron.

I don't really have anything to say, so I stow my spear and sling spells for a while. The chants keep my mouth busy and do a good job of forestalling awkward conversations I'd rather not have.

We receive the command to lay down arms just as my wind tome breaks. Looks like we've won. Thank the gods... I can't believe I'm still awake. Sumia is kind enough to provide me with a lift back to our camp.

I've collapsed in my tent and I lay sprawled on my bedroll as Robin enters. Ah, this is it. She's about to give me a tongue-lashing for repeating the same damn insubordination. "You did it again."

With some effort, I nod my head. "I know. My deepest apologies... But I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to her. She's my friend... I owe her a lot." It's no excuse, though. But I still had to do it.

Robin's quiet ire is actually far more frightening than her blustery screaming. "I'd confine you to your room in the barracks if we hadn't just started a war." If I hadn't just started a war. Gods... I'm in for it this time.

Let's make Cordelia jealous with this sigh. "I'll accept any punishment you see fit to dispense, but understand, Robin," I pause here, roll over, and stuff a pillow beneath my head so I can look at Robin, "I'll have a hell of a time holding myself back if I see a friend in danger like that again."

She draws in a breath to calm herself. It was slight, but I noticed it. "I'm tempted to ask Chrom to let you go."

"Kick me out?" Please. She wouldn't do that. "You need every able fighter you can get, Robin, and Chrom knows that." But I shouldn't push my luck.

"I'll defer with him. In the meantime, you're not fighting for a while." Yup. Figures.

"Unless you need me," I amend.

Reluctantly: "Unless we need you."

I nod. "Understood." With a few brisk steps, Robin exits our tent, likely to go find Chrom. "Well, fuck." I'm acting like my godsdamn brother, aren't I?

When I asked you guys what pairings you thought were a thing, I was asking what you think I'm going with, not the pairings you picked in your games. You guys have been hilariously wrong.

ALSO YES MY VOLUNTEER IS G2G. I like to write people who I know well– I don't even know how long we've been chatting but it sums up quite a few hours– and natch, I picked him. Besides, GRAVITY GAGS.

Review, as always! Thank you!

EDIT: Turns out Nin knows how to ride a horse. Edited for accuracy.