"Aaaaaand—" The clacking of dice accentuates Robin's voice. "That's 16 points of armour piercing. How much armour does Edelgard have?"

"Thirteen," I sigh.

"Tch…" Robin shakes his head. "Did I make the wrong assumptions? This system did well in Valm and Nohr. I couldn't test it during my stay in Zenith, so something could have gone wrong there…or did my stat blocks not work correctly? The Princess didn't seem that incompetent when I fought against her…"

Robin mutters under his breath as he takes the model standing in for Edelgard off the table. It's surprisingly well made considering that Robin only spent a single afternoon working on it with the model leaning forward with an axe in one hand and a not-inconsiderable tower shield in the other.

Unfortunately for me, however, Edelgard was the last legal unit that I could use. Sure, I still had Robin himself on the field, but I can't use him before he uses his professor units.

Really, I don't understand why Robin is doing this.

He's playing the two opposing houses and thinking of strategies that they may use to defeat us while I'm playing the Black Eagles house in order to try and counter his strategies.

All of that means that I haven't won a single match yet. And we've been doing this for the better part of an entire morning.

"Why don't you try to play this side?" I suggest. "That way, you'll be able to come up with strategies tailored to our skillset."

Robin sighs and shakes his head.

"Can't. If I'm going to be making plans for us, I'd rather have two people playing the two houses. I cannot have the thought of the two houses trying to crush us together in my head whenever I'm making plans for us," He explains.

"Then what are you doing right now?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Making worse-case scenarios to plan again," Robin shrugs. "Which would be if the two houses do decide to team up again us."

I groan. I cannot understand Robin's thought process at all. He's an enigma that I cannot crack.

He grabs the paper that shows the list of stats for all of our students.

"Hey, should we more Edelgard up to weapon skill D+?" He asks me while taking out a piece of scratch paper and doing some quick calculations.

"She would have most likely still gone down to Felix even with a buff to her weapon skill," I point out. "Sure, the extra half pip in parry and full pip in axe proficiency would make it possible to reduce Felix's AP to 13, but you'd have to roll really low."

"Yes," Robin nods. "But she wouldn't have had to disengage when she got caught in the open by Claude. She could have just rushed him, granting you the early game momentum that you so desperately needed. Ignatz was already incredibly close to failing his moral check, if that didn't inflict panic onto him I'd really be surprised."

Wait…why did I disengage Edelgard? Wasn't…

Yes, Ferdinand was right there. You could have pushed him up.

Shit—

"Yeah…" Robin nods with a confused expression on his face. "I'm honesterly surprised you didn't push with Ferdinand. That could have swung the balance in your favour. But…"

She didn't. And she isn't telling you why.

I hate the little gremlin in my head. (I am NOT a gremlin!) She keeps telling Robin things that should be kept secret. I feel uncomfortable.

"Would that be the right choice?" I ask, my voice NOT cracking. (It most certainly did.) No matter what the little girl (Hey!) in my head might tell you, my voice did not crack. I have finished puberty, my voice will not crack anymore. (That mostly affects boys, you know? You didn't have any voice cracks in puberty.)

"Well…" Robin hums a little bit to himself. "It was probably too late anyway…"

See, Sothis? (Oh, come off of it!)

"—instead, you should have made that play around three turns earlier. Claude wasn't in a position to rain down fire from above yet and Dimitri hadn't managed to knock Petra out yet," Robin continues.

(See, Byleth!)

Hey, you only said I should have charged Ferdinand during that round! You said nothing about previous rounds!

(…)

"How do you know these things…?" I mutter. It's amazing how well Robin can control a battlefield.

"Experience and a lot of pain," He winces. "I learned from my mistakes. They say that's a good thing. What they don't say is how many mistakes you need to make to learn everything you need to."

He enters a stupor once again. He shakes it off faster than last time, though, and he starts to reset the board for another round against me. I groan.

I'm not good at tactics. That was always Robin's area of expertise. I'm more concerned with stabbing things with my sword and knowing when to shoot someone with a thunder. (Maybe that's why you have less direction than a boulder!)

"Do I have to be the only person to face off against you…" I sigh. "It's getting tiring losing to you all the time…"

"Hmmm…that's fair," He nods. "And all I'm getting is that if the Blue Lions and the Golden Deer combine their forces together and Manuela and Hanneman both stay out of it we get trounced. Not surprising, but good information to have."

"How about we switch places? Just this once?"

"Tch—" Robin shakes his head. "Fine, but only once. My mind is already starting to think up contingencies that it really shouldn't."

I shrug. Not unusual for Robin. He loves his contingencies.

"Alright then," I nod. I have to re-read all of the stat sheets for the members of the other two houses. How did Robin know all of things? We've barely been here for two weeks! And how exactly does he know everyone's height and weight? How'd he get any of the girls' weight? Why did any of the girls let him have their weight?

Robin? How do you know their weight?

"Hmmm? Whose?" Robin looks up from the board and stares at the spot directly above my head where the green-haired gremlin (Ugh. You're impossible.) is currently floating, completely ignoring physics.

Everyone's! How did you manage to get Marianne's weight? She doesn't look like the kind of person to talk to anyone she just met, never mind getting their weight!

"You ask me this now?" He raises an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't ask anyone for their weight, not even the students in our class. I know your weight without even needing to ask you, By," Robin snorts. "A couple of quick inferences and knowledge on my past friend's weight gets me close enough for the purposes of the game system."

"What?"

"You're 57 kilograms, right?"

…Robin is spot on.

"That look on your face means that I'm right," Robin shoots me a cheeky smile. "Are you going first or do you want me to?"

"I'll go," I frown. Hmmm… Positionally, I have the advantage. The Golden Deer are currently on a wooded hill while the Blue Lions are on a different hill, just shorter and less well-defended. The Black Eagles, on the other hand, are in the woods to the south. Good for ambushes, yes, but terribly difficult to get out of.

How'd you figure that out? Her weight, I mean.

Sothis starts up a conversation with Robin as I start to move my piece. I could wait for Robin to come to me, but since he gave me the momentum, I'd rather not give it up. Naga knows how dangerous Robin can be when his plans get moving. I cannot let him be set up in the forest.

A really tough decision is which house I choose to engage Robin in the forest.

The Blue Lions are cohesive and fight well as a group, but their lack of a specialised and good ranged unit ties me up. Sure, I can use Annette, but she's better as a battlemage with her high axe skills. However, the sheer versatility that they bring to the table is nothing short of amazing. Sure, they're nowhere close to what the 7 best members of Jeralt's Mercenaries (Father, Robin, me, Mikal, Solkis, Zonzi, and Fedac) can do under Robin's direction, but they're better than all of the other houses combined.

The Golden Deer on the other hand…Well, the less said the better. Claude has a leadership value of eight. Fair, maybe even overestimating it, but the second-highest is Lysithea with four. FOUR! And the worst part? I completely agree with his assessment! The Golden Deer are a complete mess of a house with no sense of direction or cohesion. Hilda doesn't want to do anything, Ignatz is an indecisive, nervous wreck, Marianne abhors violence and probably wants nothing to do with this mock battle, Raphael has about as much tactical knowledge as Caspar, and Lorenz! If we were using the old system, Lorenz would bolt down the side of the hill to fight the first person he sees!

Thank Naga Robin got rid of it. Mikal would never do that.

"Oh, it's simple," Robin shrugs. "Muscle mass and weight are proportional to each other while height and muscle mass are inversely proportional compared to a similar weight. After seeing everyone in combat or simply guessing, I can get a close estimate of muscle mass, which I used to estimate weight."

That does not sound simple in the slightest…

Robin and Sothis's conversation continues their conversation as I finally come up with a plan. Or rather, the only plan that I can come up with. Rush him with the Blue Lions, and send some of the Golden Deer while leaving just enough on the hill to hold off a flanking attack. He'll find a way to break through my defences in any other plan I could think up.

"Bold move," Robin suddenly breaks away from his conversation with Sothis to give me his questioning eyebrow. "That hill is a very good position. Are you sure you want to give it up?"

"I can't let you have the initiative," I shrug.

Are you sure this is a good idea?

"Yes…" I hiss. What does Sothis know about war? She's a child who cringed the first time she saw me kill a person. (I did NOT!)

"Alright then. Are you going to move the Golden Deer?" Robin shrugs as he grabs some dice from the pouch in the coat.

I move everyone except for Claude and Lysithea. The woods should provide enough protection. If all else fails, I can invite Manuela into the battle. Sure that'll mean that Robin can use himself, but by that point, I've lost.

Robin's turn starts with him…charging my line? With only Edelgard and Ferdinand?

What is he doing? Are you sure he's a tactician because that looks like a stupid move?

I have to agree. I don't know why Robin is moving two of his most important units out in such an obviously terrible position.

"That's it? That's all your movement?" I blink, stunned.

"Not much else I can do, I'm afraid," Robin shrugs. "Too many people on your side, not enough skill on mine. If this plan fails, then I lose."

I blink again.

"Well…" I move up Dimitri to engage Edelgard. "I declare a cautious attack from Dimitri to Edelgard."

"I accept combat," Robin tosses me a pair of 6-sided dice. I manage to catch them in the air.

After our respective rolls, I groan. Edelgard has moved a lot less and has no exhaustion points, while Dimitri racked one up after a failed advance roll from coming down the hill. That allowed Edelgard to safely get the first hit in. While it is only a glancing wound, it's not looking good for me.

"I…how?"

"Tsk, tsk…" Robin shakes his head. "Byleth, what's the most important measure of an army's effectiveness?"

"Morale. No one will fight if they do not have the will to do it," I answer immediately. Robin pounded that into my head from the moment I started to command men.

"And the second?"

"The condition of the troops under my command…" The implications hit me harder than a hammer hits heavy armour.

"Tiring out your men by having them run down a barely slopped hill before they can even engage the enemy is not a good idea," Robin chuckles.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," He shakes his head. "You only had to command a small group of people with predetermined plans before. This is something you're doing for the first time, I don't expect perfection."

"Still, you have more men there than I do. You have the entire Blue Lion's house with you and backup from the Golden Deer not too far behind. Don't let this get you down," Robin smiles at me.

I push up with the rest of my units. I manage to slam Ferdinand in the chest with a wind spell from Annette, but Robin manages to pass the save roll.

"Not going to lie, that was a bit close," He exhales deeply. "Was not expecting Annette to be able to hit so accurately. But now…I believe it is my turn?"

I nod.

"I start by declaring an ambush with…well, all of my units whose names are Edelgard and Ferdinand," Robin shoots me a cheeky grin as I realise what I've just done. Petra, Bernadetta, Dorothea, and Hubert are all ranged units that are in perfect range to hit my units, and they're also in concealment which makes counterfire…difficult.

Six attacks later and I've just started to realise what exactly Robin is trying to do.

"What's Dedue's armour class?" Robin looks up from his dice.

"Fourteen.,"

"Great. He's…" Robin rolls an eight-sided die. "Out. Rolled a seven. That's the third unit down this turn."

I groan. Felix was knocked up by a thunder spell from Dorothea while two accurate arrows managed to bring Sylvain and now Dedue down. Bernadetta managed to…hit a tree. On the hill that Claude is on.

Oh, dear. It appears that this assault has failed terribly.

"I realise that…" I hiss under my breath as I scratch my head. I still outnumber him, but only barely. And Hubert hasn't made his move yet. This is turning out to be a disaster.

"You pushed some people too hard," Robin points out. "Dedue is a heavy unit, he isn't supposed to keep up pace with the lighter units. No wonder he got knocked out by one arrow hit. I'll be surprised if he's even managed to not faint from the effort. Furthermore, Felix is a swordsman duelist. You should have sent him to fight Edelgard since she has a similar range to Felix rather than sending him after Ferdinand who can force Felix to keep his distance."

I wince. Robin has a point. He always has a point.

"Let's see how well Hubert does…Grah! Shit!" Robin cries out as he suddenly holds his hand up to his forehead.

His face suddenly contorts into an expression of pain and…anger. His amber eyes have glossed over and he is staring at the ground with an intense expression.

Uh…Robin? Are you alright?

"Where…Naga, where am I?"

"You're in our room, Robin?" I blink at him. "We were going over strategies."

"Strategies…right, strategies…" He shakes his head. "Sorry about that, By."

He takes a shaky breath before giving me a weak smile.

What was that all about?

"A bad memory," Robin waves it off. I start to get worried. Only a little bit. "Where were we? Ah! Yes, Hubert. Right, Miasma go!"

This time, Robin manages to knock out Mercedes, denying the Blue Lions their healer. Typical Robin, unfortunately. He seems extremely prejudiced against healers for some reason.

I frown as I take stock of the situation. Robin's taken out half of the Blue Lion's house without losing anyone just by correctly positioning and getting a little lucky with his ambush.

"I also have Edelgard and Ferdinand disengage," Robin smiles as he prepares to draw my forces deeper into the forest.

The smile dims somewhat as Felix manages to take out Ferdinand before he can get away. Still, all of his forces are in the forest, hidden and rested. There's still Caspar, and his axe will be incredibly effective in the close quarters of the forest.

"What can I even do?" I ask no one in particular.

Well, we obviously know this is a trap.

Sothis responds dryly.

"I know that!" I hiss at the voice in my head. "But what do we do about the trap?"

We? I have nothing to do with this! You got us into this situation! I said not to do this!

"You did not!"

Did too!

Sothis sounded like a spoiled brat at this point. (I did not!) See, she's going it now too. (You are the worst person I've ever met!)

Sothis does realise that she hasn't met many people, right? She's lost her memories and doesn't remember many people. (Hey! I'm sure I know many people before I lost my memories! Just wait!)

"While I find this argument incredibly amusing, would you please do your move, By? I'm getting a bit peckish and would like to finish this game before we go get lunch," Robin chuckles in amusement, the skin around his amber eyes tightening just a little.

Ooh! I would love to get some food! Please, finish up, Byleth!

"Hey! Do you want me to win or not!" I yell. (She pouted too.) I did not pout! I am the Ashen Demon, I do not pout! Demons do not pout!

I want food. I don't care anymore. Hmph.

"Alright then," I frown. "Robin, I declare a charge with my entire army."

Against who? You're not going to make the charge, much less get anything done with it! You're charging into the forest!

"I thought you didn't care," I humph at the green-haired gremlin standing, no, floating, next to me.

Yes, but this is so obviously a trap!

"Yes, which is why I'm springing it," I nod. "Robin does that a lot."

As much as I hate to admit it, Robin is smart when he rushes in to spring a trap. You're just recklessly charging with no regard for whether or not it's a smart decision!

"Hmph," I fold my arms across my chest. "What would you do, Robin?"

"Me? Facing off against who?" He answers after a short pause. His eyes are still a bit cloudy, a milky white film blocking some colour from his amber eyes. He has a slight frown on his face, his eyebrows squeezed together in thought.

"Anyone," I blink, the question catching me off guard. I had not expected him to answer a question with another question.

"Well…" Robin stops leaning on the table and stands up straight. He stares right into my eyes, a slightly amused expression slowly creeping onto his face. "How does this 'anyone' fight? Do they care about their men, or do they think of the people under their command as numbers? Are they rash or are they careful? All of this makes my response different."

"What if you fought yourself?" His cheeky response takes me a little aback, but I managed to get my point across.

Hmmm…" He folds his arms across his chest and rubs his chin. "That's a tough question. I've never thought about strategies against myself before. Usually, if I'm the enemy, I simply take myself out of the strategic picture."

He paces in front of his side of the table for a little while.

You don't think about how to defeat yourself?

"Well, do you come up with arguments to use against your own?" Robin raises an eyebrow at the air above my head.

Sothis has the gall to look sheepish. Seriously, get something coming close to dignity! (I am VERY dignified, thank you very much.) If you are, stop screaming in my ear. (Ugh! I'm going to sleep.)

Good riddance. (HEY!)

I have not. I now acknowledge your point. Still, I too am curious as to what you would do in this boulder's situation. I do not see a way out of this.

"Why would I tell you?" Robin suddenly grins at me. "I'd be giving away the whole surprise."

H-Hey! That's mean! Can't you see that Byleth is sad that you wouldn't tell her?

"I am not sad!"

You are! Look, you're pouting!

"I do not pout! The Ashen Demon does not 'pout'!"

…is that a blush that I'm noticing?

"It is not," It is not in fact a blush. The room was a little warm, after all. (Uh huh… with what you're wearing, I doubt a desert would even be hot.)

Wow. Sothis knows how jokes work? Colour me surprised. I was not aware that she could lower herself to such mortal levels. (I—you—this—Ugh! You are a terrible person!)

Say what you will, but I believe that is indeed a blush. Back me up, Purple Mage!

"Excuse you!" Robin huffs playfully, an expression of mock rage on his face. "I'm a tactician, not a mage!"

What's the difference? Never mind that, look at Byleth's face!

"Alright, I have to admit that is the most expressive that I've ever seen By's face make. Look at those eyebrows!" Robin giggles as he looks down at my face. Is my face really that funny…?

Something that I've noticed during the entire strategy session is that Robin hasn't truly smiled yet. His eyes always looked out of it, covered by a film and staring at something behind me that Sothis nor I could see.

Now, a bit of the usual light in his eyes has returned and the smile that he puts on has finally reached his eyes.

"Is it really that funny…?" I frown. (Read: pout!) I did not pout! I really didn't!

"On a scale of one to ten?" Robin grins wildly. "Fourteen."

I frown harder. (Just admit you pouted. It's not that bad!) The Ashen Demon does not pout!

"Are you going to make your move, Byleth? Still going to declare that charge?" Robin's face goes back to what it was a while earlier, a melancholic expression.

"Of course. I can't do anything else," I frown at the rapid change in Robin's demeanour. He hasn't been this bad…since I decided to fight on the front lines with Jeralt and Robin, actually. What happened?

"I declare overwatch with Bernadetta, Hubert, and Dorothea," Robin sighs and goes to roll his dice.

I wince as Felix eats an arrow from Bernadetta, eliminating him. My charge only has Dimitri, Ingrid, and Annette left, with the Golden Deer too far away to help them for at least another round.

Thankfully, Dimitri manages to take out Hubert and Annette smacks Dorothea hard enough with a wind spell to render her tactically useless. The small victories.

"Counter attack with Edelgard and Petra, Declare ambush with Caspar against Ingrid," Robin moves the bright-blue-haired boy toward the blonde girl.

Annette falls to an unrealistic shot from Bernadetta while Caspar manages to take down Ingrid. Dimitri is still stuck in combat with Edelgard, but he's going to be stuck there. Retreating means taking opportunity attacks from four people, a risk that I cannot take.

"And that's that charge dealt with," Robin mumbles to himself. "What about—that won't…no, Excellcius…wait no…"

He suddenly shakes his head violently and bashes it on the table, sending both models and terrain pieces jumping up into the air.

"Robin!"

Purple Mage!

You really don't want to call him by his name, huh? (Hmph!)

"That's one nasty bruise…" Manuela sighs. "What exactly did you two do this time?"

"Mock battle," I respond.

"I thought I told you two to stop doing that?" She groans. "We don't need people getting more hurt than they already are."

"We were fighting each other with board pieces though?" I frown. I don't think I can hurt him with a board game, right?

You're obviously wrong. Look at him! I've never seen him this hurt!

That's…actually true. Wounds stick to Robin as well as butter sticks to a hot knife, which is to say, not at all. This bruise might be the worse wound I've ever seen Robin take.

"You threw a board game piece at him?" Manuela stares up at me, shocked. The green light that marks out the spell that she's using to heal Robin flickers a bit at her sudden outburst.

"Hmmm? Why would I be doing—"

"Professor Manuela, I believe Professor Byleth is trying to say that they were playing a war game, not using chess pieces as makeshift darts…" A tired-looking Linhardt enters the infirmary.

"Linhardt…not that I really mind, but why are you here?" Manuela turns to look at the green-haired boy.

"I had him get my stuff from the room," I inform the doctor. "I left my belongings there."

"And why would you need your things?"

"Because Robin hasn't woken up yet," I respond, taking the leather bag from Linhardt and sitting down on the bed next to Robin's prone form.

"Still haven't answered my question yet…"

"Robin never left my side when I was injured. I will not leave him," I explain. Seriously, why hasn't Manuela realised this from the earlier statement?

"I suppose I understand that sentiment…though how—" Manuela didn't get to finish her sentence because Robin's eyes suddenly open up at a startling speed. He bats away Manuela's healing.

"Thanks, Maribelle. I'm fine though," He gives Manuela a slight smile. "See? Just a little bruise. Save the staff for the more serious cases."

"I—what?" Manuela sounds as surprised as she looks, her eyebrows shooting up to the top of her head. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean what I'm talking about?" Robin blinks and raises an eyebrow. "We're fighting a war, Maribelle! We can't have you wasting staves on treating a little bump that I got because I fell asleep at my desk when there are people out there missing their limbs!"

"Robin, what are you talking about? We're in the monastery!" I grab Robin's shoulders and shake him slightly. His face scrunches up and he has a confused expression written all over his face. "There is no need for us to save staves."

"M—Monastery…? Where…?" Robin suddenly turns his gaze towards me and looks at me with his amber eyes. "Chrom…? Why—"

Robin chuckles a bit.

"Why'd you grow your hair out? Did Sumia convince you to try it out? How many times have I told you, if you don't want to do something, just say no. Even as husband and wife, there should be boundaries, you know?" Robin waves his hands around with an amused smile.

"Robin, are you sure you're alright?" I ask him, concern now slowly creeping into my voice. This isn't Robin! Or at least, this isn't what Robin is right now. Did he lose his memories?

Hey, Purple Mage! Did you lose your memories again? Can't you remember us?

Robin raises his eyebrows and stares at the place above my head.

"…Nah…? Is that you? Why don't you show yourself?"

"Who is he talking about…?" Manuela mumbles to herself. "You wouldn't know what he's talking about, do you, Professor Byleth?"

I shake my head.

"He's never been like this before. This is the first time he's started to act like this," I reply confidently.

"Hey! Chrom, what are you saying? We've been through so much together, and yet you say such things? I'm hurt," Robin places a hand over his heart in mock shock. "Seriously though, stop pulling my leg. We have a war to win!"

Robin tries to sit up but a sudden look of pain passes over his face and he slams back into the bed with a loud thump.

"Robin!"

Robin!

Both Sothis and I both call out as he does so, panic lacing both of our voices.

"Aw, come on! I still had more things to do! Sure, the organization of supplies I can pawn off to Laurent…wait, Laurent? Isn't…hold on…" Robin mumbles to himself and his brows furrow into a look of confusion. "C—Chrom? W—Where am I? W—Where are we?"

"I am Byleth, not Chrom," I shake my head.

"B—Byleth?" Robin blinks in confusion. "W—Who is…wait no…I remember. Yes! I remember you…what is that man's name again…? Geralt? Jeralt? Yes! Jeralt! You are his daughter, right?"

I nod.

Hey Robin, what was that all about? Did your amnesia kick in again?

I nod at Sothis's question, giving Robin a questioning look.

"Amnesia…? I don't think it can simply kick in… Miriel said that there needs to be a trauma for there to be amnesia. I…don't think I was doing anything traumatic before…right?" Robin blinks at me.

I shake my head.

"We were practising strategy—"

"Right! Strategy! See, Chrom, I was thinking instead of sending in the 7th Corps, we should pull back the right flank after we charge Yen'fai's line! 7th is the most disciplined of all of our soldiers, and it wouldn't be too hard for them to pull back in a timely matter to let 19th Cav charge in and mess up—" Robin suddenly started to ramble before his eyes cloud over again. "No…Yan'fei died already…Say'ri…I made her—I ordered her to…I told her to kill her brother…I— Why? Oh gods, why?"

"I believe he is revisiting some unpleasant memories rather than losing memories," Manuela shakes her head. "Well, usually I'd administer some calming agents but I think we need to break him out of his self-induced stupor first."

She gestures towards Robin currently laying down on the bed with the face of a man who just murdered his own family by accident.

Knowing Robin, he's probably seen that happen before.

"Professor? What is going on?" I forget that Linhardt is still here. "Is Professor Robin alright…? He seems…out of it. Does he need more sleep?"

"Yes," I nod. "I believe that more sleep is required for him to function properly."

"Did you just—function properly?" Manuela mutters under her breath. "As much as I hate the wording you just used, I am concerned. How much does he sleep usually?"

"Less than I do," I respond. I do not know how much he sleeps, but I never see him falling asleep or wake up after I do.

"And how long do you sleep?"

"Eight hours," I respond, not missing a beat. Jeralt and Robin said that 8 hours is a healthy amount of sleep to get, and I still follow their words. They have not let me down, after all.

"Less than eight hours…knowing Robin, he was probably at the library all night again…" Manuela groans.

"At the library?" Linhardt asks with a surprisingly emotional voice, considering his normal lackadaisical attitude.

"Yes…" Manuela raises her eyebrows. "I found him there yesterday, slumped over a book about sleeping habits…Would you know anything about that, Linhardt?"

"I don't think so…?" Linhardt scratches his chin.

"Well, I think we can attribute part of this behaviour to simply lacking sleep," Manuela hums a bit to herself. " Professor Byleth, do you know if Professor Robin here has ever had any traumatic memories from earlier in his life?"

"No—?"

"He did mention fighting in multiple wars," Linhardt interrupts me.

"Wars are traumatic?" I blink at the younger heir to House Herving.

"Um…yes? Professor Manuela, war is considered one of the primary causes of trauma, right?" Linhardt turns towards the doctor as he asks his question.

"That is correct," Manuela nods. "I suspect that traumatic incidents earlier in his life have caused the current delusions. Of course, sickness of the mind hasn't been properly studied, so that is just my own thoughts on the problem."

"So what do we do?" I ask. Sothis nods in agreement, but nobody other than I can see her.

"Well, I think letting him get some bed rest is the best decision at this point," Manuela sighs. "I've never had a patient like him before, so I'm as in the dark as you are."

She shakes her head.

"Considering how he's like normally, it is very surprising to see him broken like this, huh?" She muses. "Even the greats have their weaknesses…"

AN: Hello there! Acardia here!

It's been an interesting week for me, so I hope the writing hasn't suffered as a result. This week, we see Robin reminisce a bit too much on his past, emotionless Byleth gets introduced to the concept of trauma, and Manuela joins the headache club (Cherche, Cordelia, and Frederick welcome a new comrade-in-suffering).

That's all, folks! I'm planning on watching RWBY and playing some Fates (Still haven't finished Revalations. Ugh.) to distract my brain from life. See in all next week!

Acardia out!