AN: Hey all! Aren't you proud of me, updating before the end of the summer again? Anyway, the idea behind this chapter came from Wind Omega—thanks! There might be a few errors, since I was too lazy to do research. I'm not sure it's as well done as the other chappies, but I figured I'd post it. Sorry it's so short.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Session 7: An unexpected patient

"Miss Mio?"

The nurse halted in the middle of the hallway and glanced over her shoulder. "Yes, Miss Apple?"

"Could I talk to you for a moment?" the strategist asked a trifle nervously.

"Of course." The two women stepped into an empty room and took seats on the unstable furniture.

"What did you want to talk about, Miss Apple?" Mio inquired politely.

"I understand that you've been conducting therapy sessions. Is this so?"

"Yes," Mio replied, still at a loss as to why Apple wished to speak to her.

"Well, you see, I know I'm not supposed to be there, but if you're giving therapy anyway…"

"Miss Apple, could you possibly explain what you want?"

"Oh, sorry. I'd feel better if I could just talk to you. Let my demons out, so to speak."

"Er…of course."

"Great. Did you know I've been a strategist in three wars like this one?"

"No, I did not," Mio said faintly.

"Well, I was. For the first one, I was just a student under Master Mathiu. That's Mathiu Silverberg. I wrote his biography, you know. I made that my mission right after the war, when he…died. And then I was involved in the Unification Wars fifteen years ago. I got the feeling that no one really respected me. I mean, I just seemed to bungle everything. So I had to find Shu…we were friends as children, but he had a difference of opinion with Master Mathiu and got expelled. Anyway, I was glad to see him again, but I was once again relegated to a superfluous position. And there was that one time when he knew I was going to mess up and he sent me anyway! And did you know I was married? Well, I was, and then the bastard cheated on me! He said I shouldn't have expected anything different, when I wouldn't satisfy him. As if he didn't ask me to marry him, and not the other way around. Just another of my terrible decisions, I guess."

Apple paused to sigh dramatically, giving Mio a brief chance to speak. "So how did you end up here with Ceasar?"

"And that's another thing! Once again, I'm not trusted with the big decisions! I'm extraneous, second best. Or third, I suppose, if you take Salome into account. And I know he is a Silverberg, but sometimes it doesn't seem fair that he gets all the recognition even though he would forget to tie his shoelaces if I didn't remind him!"

"Shoelaces?" Mio echoed faintly, more than a little taken aback by the sudden anger Apple was showing.

"And Albert! How dare he stray from Mathiu's ideals?" she demanded, conveniently forgetting that Albert had been taught by Leon and not Mathiu. "I never would have expected him to turn out that way as a child. And oh! I just don't know what to do anymore."

Mio sat quite still once Apple was done rambling, wondering how to handle to situation. She rather wished for some assistance—anyone would do. She certainly hadn't been expected to be asked to listen to someone's life story in a nutshell. And yet…she couldn't just leave Apple like this. There was far too much pent-up tension there. That the strategist had dealt with it this long showed admirable self-restraint, but how long until she snapped?

"Alright," Mio said finally. "Why don't we start at the beginning for now? Tell me about Mathiu, and how you felt about the war and his death."

That opened the floodgate once again. Mio dutifully took notes, and found herself wishing for the dubious distraction of one of her more restless patients, who could always be counted on to end a session early.