One Dream in All of Us still Shining

That dinner was nice…even if it came out of my own pocket. At least Anna didn't eat much.

Vincent stood in his tent that same night he got back from his dinner with Anna. There was a war brewing and he had no time to sleep.

Thankfully, there was this leaf from the southern isles that could keep you awake for hours when you ate it. Vincent had purchased some of the leaves in the last town. And he was pleased with the outcome.

So for the past three nights he hadn't slept. At all. He poured over the history texts in his tent. The histories about tacticians and wars. Such as The Conquest of Bern or An Account of the Final Holy War. He currently was immersed in the second of those two. He had his eyes so fixed to the pages that he didn't hear someone call out his name and look into his tent. He was at the exciting part, The Tragedy of Barhara. He had no time for-

"Vincent?" a voice softly called as the person in question poked their head in. Anna had been about to retire for the night, when she saw Vincent's tent all lit up.

Vincent didn't react. He kept reading. The leaves he was taking dulled the senses to an extent. Minor side effect. Irrelevant.

"Vincent?" the voice was louder this time.

"Vincent?" he finally noticed the interruption.

"Ah! Anna! What are you doing here?" Vincent said surprised.

Anna looked into the tent, eyebrows raised. It was total disarray. Nothing like her shop. The books were scattered everywhere. A stack held up his lantern, another seemed to serve as his pillow.

This…is kinda pathetic. Think of all the gold laying around here! These are valuable tomes!

She called his name three times. On the third time she finally got his attention. He looked up tiredly, "Ah! Anna! What are you doing here?"

"I saw the light on in your tent. I just came to say goodnight. I never thought you were reading all of this…" she stared off, mentally calculating the amount of money she could make off it all.

"Ah yes, with the upcoming battles, I've been preparing as much as I can so next time I'll have a good plan. I don't need to sleep, this is more important," saying the last phrase more to himself than to Anna.

"What do you mean you don't need sleep? If you don't sleep, you miss golden opportunities in the morning!" Anna said puzzled.

Vincent was about to respond, but he grinned and said, "Punny."

"Huh?" Anna said puzzled once more.

"You said golden opportunity, and you were talking about gold. Haha…" Vincent reached over to his 'desk' (Comprised of several tomes stacked up) and grabbed a leaf of the table. And to Anna's surprise and realization, he put it in his mouth and ate it.

"Is that…one of those leaves from the southern isles? I sold those once…they have terrible side effects. Tell me that isn't one," Anna said slowly.

Vincent blinked a few times and said, "…It…is one."

Anna grabbed the case that held them away from him. She wouldn't let her new found friend drug himself! And then she wacked him with a book. "Ah! What was that for!" Vincent said angrily.

"You idiot! Yes, these let you stay awake for long periods of time, but do you know what they do to you?" Anna said very angry.

"Heh…heh…no," Vincent mumbled. He looked like he wanted to back away from the very angry Anna.

"They can cause severe damage to your senses! You might go blind, or deaf! Or not be able to feel, or taste or smell. And in some cases, it's toxic and can kill you! I'm confiscating these and selling them!" Anna said in that way women do that means 'if you argue, you're dead.'

Vincent sighed, seeming to know he couldn't win. He got up and moved to his cot. His head rested on a stack of three tomes and his feet were propped up on a few as well.

"You really need to get rid of some of these books Vincent…" Anna trailed off.

"You could sell some if you like. With my permission of course. Some I don't need. Like this one," he pulled out the top one that his head was one. He tossed it to Anna. She looked at the title, A Plainswoman's Quest. It had a green haired woman on the front holding a sword. "That one is about a girl trying to reclaim a throne. But most of it is fighting bandits and is useless to me."

"Do I get anything out of the deal?" Anna said right away. Cut to the chase.

"Besides spending time with me?" Vincent said innocently. "You can have all the profits, as long as I get discounts at your store."

Anna did some quick calculations. She would ultimately make a huge profit on the deal. "Deal!" she said ecstatically and held out her had for Vincent to shake. Vincent shook it and grinned.

Vincent jumped up and startled Anna. "So let's get started, shall we?"

"Already?" Anna said surprised.

"Of course! Don't want to waste the morning of golden opportunities!" Vincent exclaimed as he moved about his collection.

Anna giggled. Maybe this would be more enjoyable than she thought…

Vincent had needed sleep. Thank the gods for Anna's insistence. Although her falling asleep in his tent was…unexpected. But it was late! They both fell asleep at the same time! He didn't do anything!

Thankfully she was able to escape before others found out.

But on to not as important things that are important on the grand scheme of things but not on a personal level because an attractive woman is actually giving you the time of day, lucky bastard some people would kill you for your spot in that so watch your back.

…Calm down voice number two.

But they were under attack now. Fun times. Vincent's job was to go kill the generic enemy commander. His team of operatives were Kid, Anna, and the new orange thief Gaius, who insisted on calling Vincent 'Vinnie.'

They snuck around the fighting to the best of their ability. Anna's sleep staff helped tremendously. She had so many things in her shop! And even more with all his books. Whenever someone caught site of them, she would use her staff on them. And then Gaius, Kid or Vincent would kill them.

Gaius was a strange fellow. He loved sweets, never did his laundry (to Vincent's knowledge) and talked to strange townspeople. Shifty townspeople. Irrelevant.

After many fireballs, Vincent asked Kid, "So Kid, how're you and Maribelle doing?"

Kid's face went red, "I-I don't know what you mean-"

"Oh yes you do Kid. We all see you two brewing tea and talking closely. So spill it, what's going on between you two?" Vincent grinned. Battles were the best times to have conversations.

"I…er…" Kid was saved from answering due to a large brigand leaping towards them. Kid killed him with a thunderbolt.

And to further interrupt the conversation, they spotted the big bad boss.

Ooo! Alliteration! Say that three times fast!

"Alright, plan…Kid and I will give Gaius cover fire and Anna will put the big bad boss to sleep. Gaius, you will run up there, being so fast and kill the big bad boss. Any questions on the plan: Big Bad Boss Battle?"

"Aren't you curious how they found our army Vinnie?" Gaius asked.

"Curiosity killed the cat Gaius," Vincent shot back.

"Cats have nine lives Vinnie," Gaius smirked.

"Touché Gaius. But I don't care. Our job is to kill people. So let's do that! Time for shenanigans! Fun word shenanigans…" Vincent prepared his fire. Kid prepared his lightning. And Anna began concentrating on putting the big bad boss to sleep. She succeeded quite easily. Anna had great skill with a staff.

The commander fell over suddenly, causing his guards to become confused. Kid and Vincent shot their respective magic at the confused guards. And Gaius ran in between them, and stabbed the leader in the heart. A perfect shot through the heart.

The rest of the guards were quickly obliterated by Vincent and Kid.

The small team celebrated, not knowing the family troubles Chrom, Lissa and her worshipness The Exalt were going through in a stubborn argument.