So, I would've had this chapter up yesterday but my brick of a bed finally did me in. My back ached so much that I actually couldn't even bend forward. It's still in slight pain now, but not nearly as much as before.

With my own problems out of the way now I'd like to say thanks to those that reviewed last chapter. Tis' always appreciated!

Anyways, here's a bit of on the shorter end chapter.

Italics will be character's thoughts and /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.

Be Yourself

After the unexpected ambush in the mountains, the sun had barely started to rise over the horizon when, unluckily, a small snow storm kicked up as well. The temperature dropped substantially with time as some plants became so brittle they could be easily shattered with enough force. Slowly but surely the dead bodies of the bandits were being covered in a layer of white snow. Nature was throwing a blanket over them to make it look as though there was never any fight in the first place.

As the bodies were covered, a few wolves had gathered around a few of the bodies still visible to the naked eye. Gathering food was slightly difficult during this time of year for the wolves so the smell of fresh corpses was slightly tantalizing to them.

The wolves continued to circle around the bodies as they seemed to be choosing which would be better to take. Before they could make any kind of decision, however, their ears picked up something; footsteps coming towards them.

They immediately faced the direction the sound was coming from and exposed their teeth to this on comer. They snarled and even barked as a cloaked figure continued to approach.

At the sign of the wolves grouping up in front of him, the figure stopped dead in his tracks. The two parties had started a stare down between each other; neither of them gave an inch.

Electing to be the first to make a move, the wolves moved forward. Seeing this, the figure pulled out a small bomb out of his cloak and tossed it against the exposed side of a large rock nearby. He had thrown it with such force that it exploded against the side of the rock.

The bomb made such a loud noise that it startled the wolves. They turned their heads back to where the explosion occurred before they quickly started to run away from the vicinity; they had decided that it was too dangerous for them to be in.

"Damn wildlife. A man comes back to loot his dead soldier's bodies and he has to waste another stupid bomb," the man muttered as he put the extra bombs he held in his hand back into a pouch he had secured around his side.

The bandit leader marched over to one of the closest bodies near him and brushed off some of the snow to get a better look at whoever's face he was looking at. He examined the face of the person and quickly dismissed them as being useless.

"Killed all of my men and made the others run with their tails between their legs," the man continued to speak to no one in particular besides himself as he turned another body over to see whose corpse it was, "I knew they were all worthless from the start."

The bandit leader grunted in annoyance as he realized this corpse didn't have what he wanted either. He swiftly got up and walked over to another corpse. This time he decided to kick the body over to the other side with his foot before dusting off the snow on its face. Again, it was the wrong body.

"Job got partially done though. Can't not give them that. I would've preferred seeing that both of them died here with the rest of these idiots, but my poison should work its magic," he continued to ramble on as he reached down to inspect another body.

Finally, it had been the one he was looking for. He swiftly searched the body as his hands darted in and out of various pockets the bandit had on him. Within a short span of time he managed to pull a map out of one of the pockets.

"I'm never leaving a baboon in charge of the map ever again," the leader thought to himself as he looked over the map before pocketing it.

"And if it doesn't then I'll be sure to cut them down next time. I won't give up. No mistakes. I. Will. Not. Fail," the cloaked man clutched his dagger inside of his cloak as he slowly started to march away from the corpse ridden path and further towards the south.

Just before he could make it fully out of the area, however, a voice called out to him.

"Please… Please help me…" the voice sounded weak as it was evidently from one of the bodies lying about.

Apparently, this man had managed to survive his wound that knocked him down during the battle. He had a spear wound running directly into his gut. In the cold, it could take a bit before he bled out or even froze to death.

The cloaked man stopped in his tracks. Whether it was out of pity or curiosity, the man lying in the snow would never know.

Nevertheless, the dying bandit called out again, "Please… I need… help…"

The cloaked individual didn't respond. Instead, he stood firmly in his stopped position as the cold winds blew against his cloak. After a moment of silence exchanged between the two, the cloaked man cut off the wounded bandit before he could continue to beg.

"Begging won't do you any good. I'm not gonna help you," the cloaked man was as cold as the air around him.

"All you're doing is making noise and there happens to be some... individuals… out there that wouldn't mind a live meal," the cloaked man observed a pack of approaching wolves coming up the mountain. They seemed to be in search of a meal just like the last few were that got scared off.

"W-Wait!" the dying bandit tried to crawl away from the oncoming predators, "Please! I'll do anything!"

The cloaked individual started again in his walk as he chose to ignore the bandit's desperation.

The man's pleads of help echoed from within the mountains before being quickly drowned out by cries of agony.

"Then die… die like all the others," the bandit leader whispered quietly to himself as his words were carried off by the increasing snowstorm.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After the unexpected ambush in the mountains, the rest of the Shepherds managed to regroup with us without wasting an extra lick of time. We were on locked rails to immediately go straight for Regna Ferox's border. The sun had finally broken over the horizon and a snowstorm emerged simultaneously as the clouds partially blocked out the sun. The temperature dropped substantially and almost all of us bundled up with whatever extra pieces of cloth we had.

We got Chrom up and placed him into the back of the wagon with all of our supplies. It wasn't hard to make a makeshift bed for him in there with Frederick's help.

His condition didn't seem to be getting any better, but thankfully Miriel whipped up a concoction for him in the blink of an eye and gave it to him. The drink knocked him out and she said it should make him feel better but it was still far from a cure.

I managed to get the arrow out of my side with some assistance from Vaike and a bit of healing with one of our last vulneraries. Never before did I think that I could experience so much pain in the blink of an eye. I thought maybe I would pass out from the arrow being pulled out of me.

Things seemed to be going to real crap around here. Everyone seemed to be walking in utter silence. Not even Choc looked visibly pleased at how things were turning out.

Lissa had secluded herself to her brother's side once we got him into the wagon. Miriel was there with her to monitor Chrom's condition, but she still didn't speak to anyone.

Everyone's mood had fallen to extreme lows with Sumia being almost unable to contain her sorrow.

All this from one event… One that shouldn't exist in the first place… Is it my fault?

I couldn't find my mood to be any better than the others. Constant questions riddled my mind from this incident. A man was dying in the back of a cart and it could very well be because of my existence here.

Fuck… Damnit! I didn't wish for this! Nobody would! I just… I can't… I can't handle this…

I gripped the side of my head with my free hand as it throbbed in pain. Lack of sleep, confusion, stress, anger; these things weighed on my head and it showed with my painful headache.

Just sleep… Sleep and you'll get away from this…

In a desperate attempt to escape what was occurring, I calmed myself as I closed my eyes. I just wanted to head back home and never experience this again.

No more.

"Vince!" a voice called out as I was shaken on top of Choc.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw Auden with his hand on my side. He seemed concerned with me.

"What is it, Auden?" I asked him.

He retracted his hand from my side as we continued to march with everyone else, "You were dozing off."

For good reasons.

"I'm just tired. That's all," I lied as I wiped my eyes.

"You and everyone else," Auden said with a small smile as we kept on our march.

How?

"How?" I blurted out what was on my mind.

"I'm sorry?" Auden replied in confusion as he turned his attention back to me.

"How can you be so… calm?"

"Am I really sticking out that much?" he shyly scratched the back of his head.

"Auden, Frederick won't even as much as glare at us for going off the path! Yeah, I'd say you stick out!"

"Everyone is looking pretty gloomy right now," he responded slightly seriously.

"Then why aren't you?!" I had started to get slightly more upset than I had wanted.

What is this?! Just water off his back to him?!

"I'm not unaffected by all this," he said as he locked eyes with my burning ones.

I looked in his eyes for a brief moment and I could tell he wasn't lying. After I realized this, I felt slightly ashamed that I almost snapped on him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so upset."

Auden shook his head a couple of times, "No, I'm sorry for making it look the way it did."

He rubbed his hands together and blew some air into them to keep them somewhat warm as he had been wearing no gloves. After repeating the process a couple of times he continued, "This is an army, Vince; a close one at that. It's to be expected that everyone would be down when their leader is in this kind of situation."

"Yeah, I know. It's just… nobody knows what to do," I blankly stared at Choc's mane as I brushed it with my hand.

"Nobody ever does, but that doesn't mean you should give up."

"…" I remained silent as I continued to listen to Auden.

"Don't let yourself be changed, Vince. Things will be rough but we all need to pull through this together if we're going to make it."

"Alright, Auden. I understand," I looked back to Auden with a faint smile.

"You're a bright kid, Vince. I'm sure you'll be fine," Auden said with a grin as he smacked my back causing me to almost topple over Choc.

"Boy am I glad you're finally smiling. You were starting to look like a dead raccoon!" Auden said joyfully.

"Racoon?! I was unaware gorillas knew how to speak," I shot back to the beard man with a mischievous grin.

"Gorilla? I'm not that hairy am I?" Auden asked as he scratched his beard.

I laughed quietly to myself at his concern for his facial hairs as our march went on.

"You're stature is large as well. I'd say only Kellam beats you in that-" I stopped suddenly as a thought rushed through my head.

"Kellam? I don't think I remember that name," Auden replied in confusion.

"Did we leave Kellam behind?!" I panicked and almost shouted.

"Um… I'm right behind you," a voice said from behind me.

"Crap!... Oh, Kellam it's you! Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" I said as I looked back to the giant behind me.

"Yeah, a lot of people tell me that," he stated with a blank face.

God, I thought they were over exaggerating his lack of presence. He really does seem to just pop out of thin air!

"Halt! Take another step and you'll be riddled with arrows!" a new commanding feminine voice yelled out in front of our group.

"We mean no trouble! The prince of Ylisse is in need of medical care!" Frederick took charge in being our negotiator.

"And I'm a little fairy that'll grant your every wish. What do you take me for?! A fool?!" the feminine voice shouted in response from atop a large wall that blocked our path.

It would appear that we made it to Regna Ferox's border after all. The thick wall seemed to stretch on for miles in both directions. It looked like they were taking care of it as well since there was no snow piled up on the tops of it even though snow continued to fall around us.

By the looks of the archers pointing there arrows directly at us, it would seem we were going to be forced into the third chapter's battle no matter what we said.

Can we even fight in this condition? Not even Vaike looks like he wants to and that's saying something!

"Turn around you filthy bandits! That is, if you even remotely value your life!" the voice continued to shout at us.

"As crazy as usual eh, Raimi?" Auden responded to the female decked out in large armor.

D-Does Auden know this chick?!

Everyone seemed slightly surprised at this. Frederick decided to let Auden speak in his place at the sudden realization.

"Oh? Am I supposed to think it amazing that you bandits know my name?!" the lady shouted back at Auden in slight anger.

"Yup, still crazy," Auden muttered under his breath in a sigh.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing… Look, Raimi. Can't you see that we aren't bandits?! We have a man that needs help!"

"I could care less what you say you have! The moment I let you in you'll all just slaughter me and my men!"

"Raimi, I didn't want to do this, but you're going to force me. Either let us in or I tell everyone here about your embarrassing birth mark," Auden looked up to the woman with a wide grin.

Raimi's face turned completely red as her jaw hung open.

"H-How w-would y-you-?! Auden!?"

"The one and only extraordinaire adventurer!" Auden spread his arms wide as if he was on display.

"If you tell a soul about my birth mark, I'll kill you!" Raimi slammed a fist down into the wall she was supposed to be guarding and broke a piece of it. The chunk of wall fell down and into a pile of snow.

"And if I don't, you'll still kill me! You're really giving a man little options here."

A brief moment of silence broke out between our two groups as Raimi seemed to be contemplating ideas.

"O-Open the gates," Raimi commanded one of her soldiers as she walked away from the side of the wall.

We stood patiently in the blistering cold as we waited to be allowed in.

In the meantime, I lowered my head next to Auden's and whispered into his ear, "You know this psycho chick?"

"You could say, yes," he whispered back as he stood in the cold snow.

After a short wait, Raimi and a small squadron of soldiers walked out from the other side of the gate. Raimi was at the head of the group as she led it towards ours. She stopped shortly in front of Auden who had taken up the head of our group.

She stood mere inches away from the beard man. Her height was a bit shorter than Auden's but Auden was a tall man. Her armor, however, made her look like she was practically as wide as him.

Raimi eyed Auden intensely as the other merely grinned. After a quick inspection made by Raimi, she jabbed Auden directly in the gut sending him to his knees. While I was shocked and motionless, everyone else drew their weapons as though a battle was going to break out.

"Why'd you have to go and open your big mouth about my birth mark!? Now everyone's gonna want to know!" Raimi yelled at the injured Auden which made everyone that drew their weapons feel confused.

"Hello to you too," Auden barely managed to say while still smiling.

Raimi sighed before she offered her hand to Auden to help him up, "Come on get up now."

The lack of Raimi outright murdering Auden made those that had their weapons drawn slowly put them back as they slowly realized they shouldn't have in the first place.

Come on guys. Even I could tell that was an affectionate punch.

"You could've just told me who you were and I would've let you in," Raimi said after getting Auden to his feet.

"We told you we had the prince of Ylisse and you didn't let us in! How would I know?!"

"That's because we have a lot of Plegian bandits coming around pretending to be him!"

"Really?"

"Plegian bandits are disguising themselves as milord?" Frederick joined in on the conversation.

Raimi nodded in confirmation as she continued to explain, "Yeah, we get them every couple of weeks trying to pose as your prince and the rest of your guy's Shepherds. I'll tell you, it's quite amusing seeing the bandits try to lay dress up."

She chuckled lightly as she finished explaining before she stopped and got serious again.

"So you say the prince needs help? If I may ask, what seems to be the problem?"

"Milord is poisoned. We could use any kind of help you could spare," Frederick pleaded.

"Also, we had come here in the first place to discuss if Regna Ferox could lend any of their troops to Ylisse," Robin added in as he remembered why we decided to march all the way here at all.

"I'd love to help you all, but that's not my decision. It's up to the khans. I'll take you to the capital immediately, however, and arrange a meeting."

"W-What of milord?! He's in critical condition! He needs help now!" Frederick shouted to Raimi as he lost part of his calm demeanor in the process.

"We'll tend to him to the best we can for now. You, go fetch one of our medical troops that can handle poison," Raimi directed one of her soldiers that bolted off as fast as his feet could carry him. A troop adorned in the same exact armor as the other returned in his place in a matter of minutes. The only thing different about his armor was that he had a red plus on the back of his armor. He also carried in his hands a bag that probably had all of his supplies in it.

So distinguishing…

Frederick led the medical troop without a moment's delay into the back of the cart that was steadily getting cramped with the number of people and objects it had in it. Hopefully he and Miriel can figure out something fast.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Raimi guided our party through the border's gates and lead us onto the path towards the capital. It took a good half of the day to make it there with our quick pace. The capital was supposedly called Bellator.

The city wasn't much for being called a capital. It seemed more attuned to the common man unlike Ylisse that seemed accustomed to all levels of wealth.

I suppose lavishing houses isn't the thing a nation of warriors would be interested in.

Fights almost seemed to be some kind of national sport here. If you looked hard enough for them, you'd find one in no time. They were all in seemingly good fun, however, as the crowd and the combatants seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The one distinguishing thing in the city would have to be the castle in the middle of it all. The castle seemed to keep things very basic. It didn't look terribly pleasing to the eye because it seemed to look like they had only put it up just for the fun of it. None of the walls were decorated, and there were visible cracks on the sides of it. It looked as battle hardened as some of the soldiers around here.

Definitely not going for style points with that.

We entered into the castle and we were first escorted to a room for Chrom. Surprisingly the interior was actually decorated quite nicely with purple and dark blue decorations. Curtains of the mentioned colors were draped over windows fashionably and there was an array of different weapons scattered about in display cases. Chrom's room had a battle axe that was being held in a case against the wall on the opposite side of his bed. There was a plaque at the bottom of it that seemed to tell a brief history of the weapon.

The third West Khan's axe. His weapon was said to never gain rust no matter how much wear was put on its blade. It was recovered near the capital after the first civil war.

I stopped reading the plaque and looked up at the weapon held in the display case.

A khan's weapon huh? Looks practically brand new. Guess they might not be lying about the never rust thing.

"Easy… Easy… Watch his head… There!" The medical soldier looked relieved as a couple of soldiers helped him place Chrom gently onto the bed in the room.

"Thank you. That'll be all," he waved off the extra soldiers and they exited the room only to take up guard at the front of it.

The rest of the people in the room included Lissa, Sumia, Frederick, Robin, Miriel, Sully, and Vaike. The others had gone to take care of storing our supplies and animals in the castle. Auden, however, went with Raimi to get one of the khans to hopefully speak to us.

Ten people were in this large room including Chrom and myself. All of which were concerned with Chrom's wellbeing.

Lissa and Sumia had taken up chairs next to Chrom's bed almost as soon as he was lay down. Lissa held her brother's hand in her own two hands. It was a way of giving comfort to both her and her brother. Sumia, on the other hand, simply looked on at her captain; sadness built up in her eyes.

Miriel had already gotten to work on setting up a personal work station on one of the empty tables in the room. I presume the table is usually used for things like morning meals or a game of chess, but now it was being turned into an alchemy lab of sorts.

The rest of us stood by and looked on as the scene unfolded around us. That is, until Frederick broke the silence.

"How is milord going to fare? Will he be alright?" Frederick seemed to be directing his question at the medical soldier and not Miriel.

The medical soldier took a long deep breath as he prepared himself. He took off one of his gloves that he had been wearing for sanitary reasons I'd presume and placed the back of his hand on Chrom's forehead.

"Judging by the fever. It doesn't look well," he replied as he took his hand back and placed his glove back on.

A few in the room bit their lips out of anger while others fought back hard to keep in tears. Some in the room remained like a statue as they tried to not show any weakness to the others in the room in this strenuous time.

"B-But you can help him, right?!" Robin was the next to ask.

"Certainly I can. Whether or not it saves him I cannot guarantee, however. It's a game of luck at this point." This statement from the medical officer plummeted everyone's moods even further down.

"I'll give you all a moment," the medical soldier walked slowly towards the door before closing it behind him.

Lissa was the first to break with tears finally leaving her welled up eyes. She clutched her brother's hand in her own tighter than before as she let herself finally give in to her sorrow.

"Why… Why do you always have to be so reckless? If you leave now, how will Emm and I make it?" She continued to hold onto her brother's hand as her tears fell onto the bed he was rested on.

"Chrom… Why is this happening?" Sumia muttered to herself as she clutched her hands to help her in not breaking down into tears.

This is just… I can't…

I was the next to perform an action. I walked myself over and laid myself down across the extra space on the foot of Chrom's bed. With both of my hands, I covered my face.

"Miriel, how goes your work?" Robin asked the mage that was still working hard on her experiments.

"I'm formulating a list of ingredients for my next preparation. The only difficult part is procuring the necessary ingredients. They aren't sold around here and the only other way of obtaining them quickly is to gather them ourselves," She explained.

"Do you know where they are?" Robin asked another question.

"Yes, spread very far apart from our current location."

The resulting silence was an obvious sign of the lack of pleasure in Miriel's statement. Not a single word was uttered again.

Damnit, Vincent! Just do something!

In a speedy burst, I raised myself up to a seating position as I pulled the sides of my mouth to make some kind of strange face. It was a desperate attempt to liven the mood, but I was only being met with bizarre looks. I was slowly unstretching my face when I realized this until a fist connected with my nose. The fist belonged to a much armored Sully.

The resulting blow knocked me back onto the bed as I clutched my nose in pain.

And thus I caused one of the things I wanted to avoid. Whatever… Nothing you can do about it now.

"The hell are you doing you clown?! This isn't any time for jokes!" Sully yelled angrily.

"Alright, I probably deserved that," I muttered as I clutched my nose to prevent some of the pain welling up in it.

"You're damn right you did!"

"Then punch me again," I stated as I dropped my hand holding my nose which caused the blood welling up in it to trail down my face.

"Oh?" Sully looked like she was going to enjoy punching me again. A sight that I enjoyed seeing surprisingly.

"Vince, you got some sort of death wish? Even the Vaike isn't that dumb." Vaike said from behind Sully as she approached me cracking her knuckles with a smile.

As she got within range to deliver her blow, I merely smiled as I prepared myself for the worst feeling face I've ever had. She reeled her arm far back and then quickly rocketed it forward as it connected directly with my face.

This second blow didn't merely knock me onto my back this time. Instead, it caused me to topple directly off of the bed as I rolled backwards. My head was the first to hit the ground as I continued for another roll. I gripped the back of my head after the rolls had ended as it felt like it was busted from the fall against the floor.

"Huh… Didn't think you'd still be up," Sully said as she looked over the bed to the slightly incapacitated me.

"Ahhh… Mommy?" I asked in a daze as I could feel there was clearly blood at the back of my head.

"V-Vincent! Sully, you're going to kill him!" Lissa said in worry.

"Stop this nonsense at once!" Frederick said as he glared daggers at both Sully and I.

"Hey, he asked for it," Sully shrugged.

Lissa hastily got up from her seat and grabbed ahold of her staff she had brought into the castle with her. She casted a heal onto the fractured head of mine causing the bleeding to cease. It didn't do much for the pain, however.

"Chalk that up as a third…" I muttered to Lissa before getting up to my feet. It was difficult what with the ringing still going on in my head but I managed.

"H-Huh?" Lissa tried to understand what I said.

"Explain yourself immediately, Vincent! You're making a mockery of Chrom's condition!" Frederick stated as he pointed a finger accusingly towards me.

"You're kind of proving why right now," I said as I pointed back in a less judgmental way.

"I… I don't quite understand what you mean," Frederick said as he looked himself over.

"Sully gets it! Punch me again, Sully!" I said as I motioned my hand for Sully to come over.

"With pleasure," She replied with a grin.

"W-Wait! On second thought, please don't! I take it back! Not the face!" I desperately pleaded to sully as I held up my hands in defense.

"Oh, don't be such a wuss," Sully said before jabbing me swiftly in the gut causing the wind to be knocked right out of me.

"I don't think any of us still understand, Vincent," Robin replied as he sweat dropped at the injured me.

"I… let me… catch my breath…" I barely managed to respond while I clutched my gut.

"Oh! Ol' Teach gets it! It's a competition to see who has the most endurance! Come on! Someone punch the Vaike!" Vaike exclaimed as he stood triumphantly. He had completely misread the situation in front of him.

Within the matter of a millisecond multiple fists connected with Vaike's face. The swift blows knocked Vaike completely unconscious as his face barely held onto its previous expression of joy.

"Frederick? Did you hit Vaike too?" Robin asked the great knight that stood as calmly as he usually did.

"As Sully might say, he asked for it," Frederick stated plainly.

Sully let out a laugh as she patted the great knight on the back of his armor, "That's exactly how I would've put it! Nice one, Freddy!"

"S-Sumia!? You too!?" Robin asked shockingly as he noticed the Pegasus knight shaking her hand out of what seemed to be pain.

"I-I'm sorry! It was an accident! I tripped and well…" Sumia tried to shyly explain what she had done.

"There! Don't you get it now!? You guys are finally acting more like yourselves again! No more moping around Shepherds! Do you really think Chrom would want us acting like he's already dead?!" I paused for a moment to see if anyone would respond.

When nobody did speak up I continued, "The answer's no! We shouldn't be standing around here like a bunch of statues! Let's go out and get those ingredients for Miriel and save our Captain!"

The group of Shepherds in the room remained silent after my speech. I had expected a loud and responsive cheering for all that I had just said.

It's quiet… Argh! It's so unnerving! I hate being a public speaker!

"Hate to say it, but I think the new recruit might be a better soldier than the rest of us," Sully said to the others.

"If there's one thing a knight must do, it's to protect the royal family at all costs! I will assist you in saving milord!" Frederick said as he planted a fist into his chest as if he was somehow saluting me.

"I could never let the man that found me in that field die. I'll help out too!" Robin said as he stood beside Frederick.

"If it's for my brother, I'll do anything! Count me in!" Lissa replied joyfully with her staff at the ready.

"I-I'll help save the Captain too!" Sumia said shyly from the back of the group.

"Hey, after taking three hits from me, I'll lend ya a hand. This one's gonna help too whether he likes it or not," sully approached the line of others while she dragged Vaike in his unconscious form.

"Not a bad rally. I may have to delve into your cranium to see what made it so compelling after this is all done," Miriel said from her experimenting station.

I sighed in relief to see them finally getting themselves out of the holes they were all in. They had gotten back to what made them the Shepherds in the first place.

"Alright, then we won't waste any time!" I shouted in joy.

"My, my. That was quite the display! I found it hard to not jump in on some parts myself!" a new voice spoke up from the doorway to the room.

All eyes in the room turned towards the doorway and were greeted by a smiling tan woman. She had blonde hair being held back and was wearing well decorated white and red armor. She was the East Khan Flavia.

"Excuse me, but who might you be?" Frederick asked Flavia.

"I am the East Khan Flavia and it is most definitely my pleasure to get to know you all," She entered into the room while extending a hand to me.

U-Um… Excuse me?

I blankly stared at the woman in front of me that was grinning while she held out her hand. Without much going on in my head at the time, I merely reached out and shook it.

"I take it you're the leader of this army? That was quite the thrashing you took!" She laughed as she released my hand from her painfully hard grip.

So strong…

"D-Do beg my pardon East Khan." Frederick stammered.

"Hm?" The Khan turned her attention to the great knight.

"T-that one isn't our leader. Actually he is," Frederick pointed towards Chrom.

"Ah! I apologize for my ignorance. Well, if you don't mind since your leader seems to be out, I'd like to speak with this one. He seems like he can understand the Feroxi way." She grinned to me as she jabbed me in my chest.

Ow…

"So? What's your name? What's the matter? Talk all you could already?" Flavia asked the ever silent me.

"I-it's Vincent," I somehow managed to respond.

"Well, Vincent, let's get straight to business."

Why the fuck do I have to be the speaker?!

So that's that for the chapter.

I'm hoping I've got a good reel on your guy's attention.

Let me know if I made any mistakes or if I'm doing well by dropping it in a review! Or just simply leave your thoughts about the chapter in one. That's what they're for!

Don't be afraid to also shoot me a PM if you have any ideas or questions. I'm always open to respond if you have any.

Now, if you all don't mind, I'll be grabbing a heating pad for my back. I can't stand this pain any longer. Here's to me looking old while I sit around!