Okay, word of advice for you blokes before you read: This is going to be by far the darkest chapter in the story to this point. I'm not going to flat out say what happens to Sane, I'm just going to kind of allude to it because of the hypersensitive nature of what happens. But anyway, something horrible does in fact happen. Which brings up the question as to WHY what happens happens. Well, sometimes horrible things happen to people. I figured this is also a way for Tharja and Sane to get her relationship started, since I've obviously thrown the in game story right the heck out the window. Anyway, this was a long author's note I know, but now the story starts so enjoy!

I had been asleep. For how long I had absolutely no idea. All I knew was that the sleep was blank and uneasy, I remember trying to move sluggish limbs that reacted as if I were in a drug induced state. When I finally awoke for real, the first thing I felt was damp, hard cement and pain. Pain in my arm, neck, head, everything you'd expect to hurt after a fight. But in addition to that pain, I felt pain in other places too. And the type of pain, if you can say pain has a type, was a new pain. I opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings. Everything had a certain haze to it and I couldn't focus my vision to save my life. Turning my head was almost impossible, but after what seemed like an eternity I had managed to look at my entire surroundings. I was obviously in some sort of jail cell, most likely in the Plegian dungeons. I was shackled to the wall with some sort of metal bindings. I tugged at them experimentally. There was enough slack I could move my arms and legs around a little bit, I could even stand up, but I couldn't reach the door to the cell. The pain I was in worsened as I moved around, particularly when I tried to walk.

'What happened?'

I opened my mouth and tried to call out, but all that escaped my throat was a pathetic hiss. My throat was dry and hurt each time I tried to call out. I decided to get someones attention by rattling the bars, but the chains didn't allow me to reach them.

'Give me a break...'

I decided to rattle the chains attached to the walls instead. I didn't know if anyone was in this terrible place with me, but at least if someone was there, I could hopefully trick them into letting me go.

'Or I could try to strong arm my way out...'

I heard footsteps approaching and stopped rattling the chains. I tried to call out to them, but again all that came out of me was a pathetic hiss. A figure appeared before me on the other side of the bars. It was dark, but I could make out a feminine figure with long hair.

"You're awake..."

Her voice was soft and had an ominous edge to it.

"The spell must've worn off."

The woman came closer to the bars and I could finally clearly see her features.

'Tharja!'

I tried to reach out to her, but the chain stopped me. I tried my hardest to say something to her, anything, but I was still unable to make any noise besides the pathetic hiss. I frantically tried to reach her. The chain jingled each time I reached out.

"Calm down. You don't want them to know you're awake."

Tharja touched the door to the cell and mumbled something. The door swung open with a creek and she stepped towards me. I backed away from her as she advanced.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."

She pulled a flask from her robes and opened it. She placed the tip of the flask against my lips and tilted it up. I was wary to drink the water, but if I was going under the assumption that I'm Robin, Tharja wouldn't do anything to hurt me. Would she? After deciding to drink the water I almost gulped it down, but I'd read enough books and had enough personal experiences to know that if I did that all I'd accomplish would be to make myself sick. So I slowly drank the water offered to me. After I was done drinking, Tharja took another flask from her robes and opened it.

"This will sting a little."

She tilted my head to the right and poured some of the liquid from the flask on what turned out to be some sort of cut at my hairline. I hissed and jerked my head away.

"Fine, be that way."

The water Tharja gave me moistened my throat and I tried speaking again.

"Where am I?"

"The Castle dungeon. You were brought here with the Ylissean Exalt."

'That's right..!'

"Where is she?"

"Why do I care?"

I tried to pull against the chains holding me.

"Tharja please, she's in danger and I have to save her."

Tharja smiled.

"So you remembered my name."

I cocked my head to the side.

"Remembered? Have we met..?"

"You were brought here two days ago with the Exalt."

'Two days...'

"Why... Why don't I remember?"

Tharja didn't answer, instead she lifted my arms and looked at my hands. Then she moved my head and looked at all the injuries I had sustained. I followed her example and looked at my injuries as well.

'How did I get those scratches?'

Along my arms, starting from my shoulder and extending nearly to my wrists, were huge gashes that looked almost like some animal had gotten a hold of me. I touched the scratches.

'Weird... They almost look like... Nail marks?'

Tharja moved my hands away.

"Don't touch them."

She looked at the scratches sadly.

"Are you in any pain?"

"Yeah."

"..."

She bit her lip in thought and looked at the iron shackles holding my arms to the wall.

"If I let you go... What will you do?"

"Save Emmeryn of course."

"..."

I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Tharja must've heard them also, because she quickly left the cell and disappeared. I felt uneasy that Tharja left. I had no way to defend myself against whoever it was coming into the room. Two Plegian Mages appeared before the cell and stared at me from behind the bars. They both had sick smiles plastered on their faces.

"Wow, the others were right." One said.

"Yeah. C'mon, they're executing the Exalt soon. We better make this quick if we wanna see it."

One of the Mages fished a key out of his pocket and put it in the door to the cell. He turned it and frowned.

"Someone didn't lock the door..."

"Does it matter? C'mon, it's not like she's gonna get out."

The two Mages stepped into the cell and shut the door behind them. I glared at them as they approached me, the sick smiles still on their faces. Something about their smiles sent ice through my veins. As they stepped closer one of them reached out and traced the scratch marks on my arm.

"This looks painful."

I jerked away from the Mage.

"Don't touch me, Plegian pig!"

The Mage laughed.

"Ha, the others said she was so quiet and well behaved! They must've been saying that so we wouldn't want to spend any time with her."

'Wait a minute... My legs aren't bound... Who's bright idea was that?'

The Mage reached out again to touch me. This time instead of letting him I launched a kick right at his head. My foot caught him under the chin and his head snapped back. He hit the concrete floor with a sick crunch and moaned. The other Mage punched me in the stomach before checking to see if his friend was alright. I hunched forward from the force of the punch and heaved. From the corner of my eye, I saw the Mage checking on his friend get knocked back by some force and slam into the wall. He didn't make any noise. I felt a pair of feminine hands at my wrists, and Tharja's voice murmuring something unknown. Whatever it was sue murmured, it somehow undid the locks binding my wrists. I let my arms drop to their sides and felt the blood rush to my fingertips.

"If you're planning on escaping, now would be a good time to do so." Tharja said.

"What are you going to do?"

She looked at the two Mages, both of which were still and quiet.

"You're looking at some serious trouble. Why don't you come with me?"

Tharja didn't say anything.

"I wouldn't last five minutes without someone to help me, and if you help me save Emmeryn I'll make sure you're safe from Gangrel."

She raised her eyebrows in interest.

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course".

Tharja bit her lip in thought.

"Fine."

She led me out of the jail area and to a long hallway. As we made our way down the hall I quickly found out that my movement was impeded by an intense pain centered in my pelvic area. Each step I took was almost too much pain to bear.

"Tharja, I have to stop."

I tried leaning against a wall and shrugging off the pain.

"You're not well... There's too much trauma."

"Trauma? Tharja what the hell are you talking about?"

"I can try casting a spell to nullify the pain, but it won't do anything for the injuries."

"Tharja! What kind of injuries are you talking about?"

From further down the hall I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Tharja pulled me along, away from the footsteps. We had only made it a few feet when my legs stopped working and I fell to the ground. I bit down hard on my lip to keep from crying out. Tharja wasted no time in picking me up and urging me to continue running.

"C'mon, c'mon..."

With Tharja's help, we were able to get out of wherever the heck we were and we emerged into the bright daylight.

'This must lead the way to Emmeryn...'

"There's a great pillar Gangrel plans on executing Emmeryn on. I was supposed to wait at the base of it with some of the others... But when you showed up, I decided I'd rather stay with you... But then..."

She shook her head vigorously.

"No, nothing will happen anymore. We'll rescue the Exalt, get out of Plegia... Then I can have you all to myself."

'That's the Tharja I know.'

"Do you know what happened to my tome?"

She nodded.

"Aversa has it. She had one of those... Pigs take it from you. Heh... You put up one hell of a fight though. One of those pigs lost a finger trying to get your tome."

'Damn... Did she alter my memory like Libra?'

"Well... Looks like we'll just have to borrow one from another Mage then."

I pointed off towards the pillar. Two Mages stood with their backs towards us.

"Well sneak up on them and take theirs. I'm sure one of them will have a suitable replacement yeah?"

Tharja smiled.

"I like that plan."

Tharja was the one who actually took the tomes from the Mages. They didn't offer me much of a selection, just a Flux, Elfire and Elthunder. I took the Elthunder, Tharja the Flux, and the Elfire was abandoned.

'Maybe I should've looked for my bag? There's nothing I can do about it now, I'll just get another one back in town. At least I still have my cloak.'

We made our way to the stone pathway around the base of the pillar. Looking up, I could see Emmeryn was already standing atop it.

"We don't have much time Tharja."

"Well now... Isn't this lovely? The little Tactician is a little jailbird."

I was so concerned with Emmeryn, I failed to notice Aversa managed to sneak up on me.

"Just the woman I was hoping to see." I said, putting more bravery into my voice than I actually had. "I believe you have something of mine.

She pulled out Micaiah's Pyre.

"Oh, you mean this little thing?"

She laughed and waved the tome in my face.

"I quite like this one, I think I'll keep it safe for you."

I pulled out my newly acquired Elthunder.

"Don't test me Aversa, I'm not afraid to fight you."

"Oh, now you're brave are you? You didn't seem so brave yesterday, cowering and begging for mercy."

I sent a bolt of lightning her way, she moved her Pegasus out of the way at the last second.

"Shut up you witch!" I shouted.

I sent another bolt of lightning at Aversa, this one closer to hitting her than before.

"Tharja, I've got this covered. I need you to go make sure the others are alright. Tell them I'm alive."

She nodded and ran off.

"Big mistake you just made, sending off your little friend... At least with her you almost had a chance of walking away from this unharmed."

I narrowed my eyes and gave her my best, intimidating smile possible.

"Funny, I was just thinking with her here I might hold back on you."

Aversa laughed cruelly.

"Oh I will have fun taking you down again."

She charged at me with her Pegasus and sent a bolt of fire magic my way. I lept out of the way, but Aversa's bolt was followed by several more. Each time I dodged I realized my movements were getting clumsier and clumsier.

'I'm in too much pain to dodge effectively...'

My only other option was to use my Elthunder tome to create a shield around myself.

'Will that even work? Miciah's Pyre is more powerful than Elthunder, what if Aversa can break right through my shield?'

I didn't have time to worry about whether or not my shield would be strong enough. Aversa sent yet another magical bolt at me and I wouldn't be able to dodge this one. I focused the magic around me and held it there. I felt Aversa's magic hit me dead center, knocking the wind out of me and leaving me feeling drained mentally. Our two magics colliding caused a bright shower of sparks to fly out. Aversa growled.

"How did you block that?"

She charged at me on her Pegasus. I threw up another magical barrier to defend myself. The Pegasus hit the barrier and it shattered. I was then practically bowled over by the Pegasus. I grabbed onto its reins and dragged Aversa onto the ground. She obviously wasn't used to brawling like this, because I was easily able to wrestle the tome out of her hands and beat her with it. She clawed frantically at me, and I clawed right back. Eventually, she gave up clawing me and settled on kicking me off of her.

'Gyah, my balls of brass!'

Fact of life, occasionally you will be kicked in the nads. Fact of life, if you're a female you shouldn't be nearly paralyzed after getting kicked in the nads. I got up quickly, my legs shaking.

"I must admit," Aversa panted, wiping a trail of blood off her face. "It's truly amazing you can even walk. The men must've been pretty docile."

"Oh just stop talking."

Aversa's mount decided to come back and pick her up. It whisked her away, no doubt to find Gangrel.

"SANE!"

I heard the frantic voice of Lissa shouting my name. Turning, I saw that her and the rest of the Shepherds were running towards me. With the group was Miriel, Ricken, Maribelle, Frederick, Sumia, Cordelia, Nowi, Gregor, Libra and of course Tharja.

'Good to see nobody killed her.'

Their eyes were all fixed skyward as they approached me. Emmeryn was dangerously close to the edge of the pillar.

'Make or break time.'

The entire time Chrom was conversing with Gangrel I kept my eyes on the sky looking for Lucina. If she didn't pull through, my entire plan would've gone right out the window.

"Sane, what should we do? If we give that dastard the Emblem, there's no telling what he'll do. But if we don't... He'll kill Emm."

I thought I saw something flying in the sky and my heart quickened.

"Don't give him the Emblem Chrom, no matter what we can't play into his hands."

Chrom nodded solemnly.

My heart was in my throat and I felt sick. If Emmeryn died... If I had to see Chrom break...

'No... I've seen more death lately than any person should have to. I... I couldn't do anything to save my mom, I'll be damned if I let Emmeryn die! I don't care if I have to jack a Pegasus and save her myself!'

Then suddenly, she was falling. Chrom started to take off after her, as if him being at the bottom of the pillar would save her. I grabbed a tight hold of his wrist.

"No Chrom, there's nothing you can do. Either the Gods will smile upon us and she'll be saved, or fate will happen as it is planned and she will die."

"You think I'm just going to stand here and watch?"

Suddenly, the cry of a Pegasus rang through the surrounding area. Everyone turned to look at the sound. My heart soared as I saw the Pegasus swoop in and the rider grab Emmeryn. A collective gasp escaped everyone except me. The Pegasus flew our way. As it approached, the others began to make out the rider.

"Is that... Marth?" Chrom asked in disbelief.

I smiled.

'I love when things go my way.'

The Pegasus landed beside us and a very surprised Emmeryn dismounted. Lucina didn't say anything to us, she simply nodded to me and flew off.

"Chrom, I suggest we take Emmeryn and flee, yeah?"

He stared at Emmeryn for a while before nodding.

"Yeah..."

I felt as if the smile on my face would never go away.

'Suck it fate, you've got nothing on me.'

I know I was supposed to get the next chapter of Enigmatic Romance up first, but this just so happened to get done first, don't worry, I'm still trying to update that. And, the moment of truth has come again where I find out if I'm keeping my laptop for another week or having it taken away. Anyway, my next update will be Enigmatic Romance, I promise. I can't tell you the pairing, but I can tell you it's a request for the amazing LeonPianta. Until then, feel free to check out my other stuff yeah?