I know, I've been AWOL for six ever, but I'm really sorry. I've just been doing other things and... I'm kind of sick of FE at the moment... But here's the next chapter. I'm sorry to say folks, after this chapter we're going on another long hiatus, this time possibly for a couple of weeks... With that horrible news, enjoy the chapter.

Before I made it to the dinning hall with the others I bumped into Cordelia in one if the hallways. She looked like she was upset about something, her head was down and she had her arms wrapped around herself.

"Cordelia? What are you doing moping about?"

She jumped slightly when I called out to her.

"Oh! Sane..."

I walked over to her with a smile.

"I'm glad I found you, I've been wanting to talk."

'Why does she look so upset?'

"I'm not really in the mood to talk Sane, can it wait?"

I cocked my head to the side.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't respond.

"Cordelia? Is it about the other Pegasus Knights?"

She sighed, or maybe it was a sob?

"They're dead..."

I reached out a hand to comfort her, but she jerked away.

"Don't give me your pity! I..." She clenched her fists. "It's all my fault."

I shook my head.

"Cordelia, we were out numbered, the others wanted you to get out safely."

She glared at me. "You think you're noble, don't you?"

I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Would you do the same thing again? Stay with Emmeryn even if you knew you'd be surrounded and captured?"

'Where is she going with this?'

"I was trusted to protect Emmeryn, of course I would've."

Cordelia huffed. "Maybe you wouldn't. Maybe you'd be too scared. Maybe..."

She looked away. We were quiet for a while and I thought Cordelia was done speaking.

"I ran."

"Beg pardon?"

"The Plegians were closing in on us, and I was terrified! I..."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

'Cordelia chickened out? No way...'

"I fought as long as I could, but it was useless. The Knights were falling left and right... I was so scared Sane..."

"You... Left them to die?"

Another sigh, sob? Escaped Cordelia.

"Go ahead. Tell me what a horrid coward I am and that I should've died with them."

I had no idea what to say to Cordelia. I knew telling her she was a coward wouldn't be any good, but what even would Robin do in this situation?

"... Even if it's because you might've been less than noble, you're alive for a reason. I'm sure you'll get a chance soon for redemption."

Cordelia looked at me hopefully.

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

Cordelia left, to do what I don't know. My conversation with her left me feeling strange. Cordelia was supposed to be so brave and noble.

'I know this place has surprises at every turn, but this is almost like a creepypasta...'

Pushing Cordelia as far out of my mind as possible I made my way to the dining hall. The layout of the Western palace was awfully bland, no doubt lacking the feminine touch of the Eastern palace.

'Although I think if Basilio was a decorative genius I'd be concerned.'

Thankfully one of the Feroxi soldiers was kind enough to point me in the direction if the dining hall.

"Er... I didn't think it would've been appropriate to say when we fought last, but I think you're very attractive."

'Broski... I love how random people just hit on me.'

When I entered the dining hall the first thing I noticed was the buffet style arrangement. There were plates and silverware near a table filled with assorted food.

'Oh, this looks more impressive than Golden Corral! What's that bird looking thing?'

I filled my plate with a little bit of everything that looked good and tried to find a seat.

'Oh, that table with Gregor looks like it would be fun to sit at.'

"Hi thar," I said as I approached. "Mind if I join you?"

Gregor smiled.

"Ah, you must be the Sane Gregor has been hearing so much about. Please, be having the seat!"

I smiled and sat down. I was instantly struck by how much like a puppy dog Gregor was, even more so than Lissa.

"Tell me, what made you decide to become a Mercenary?"

Gregor laughed. "This is the first thing you are wanting to know? Not how Gregor manages to stay so handsome?"

I smiled, a slight blush reaching my cheeks.

"Would you rather talk about how handsome you are?"

We were joined at the table by Stahl, Gaius and Lon'qu.

"Hi Sane!" Stahl greeted.

Lon'qu frowned and sat across from me. Gaius and Stahl sat at the table also.

"Sane, how come you're not eating with the other women?" Stahl inquired.

I chuckled. "What, eat with a bunch of girls? I'll pass."

Gregor laughed. "I'm sorry friends, my charm has lured her here."

Gaius smirked. "Obviously she's here to steal my sweets." Gaius gestured to his plate filled with pastries.

"No thanks, I'm trying to watch my figure."

"Gosh Sane, that's awfully girly." Stahl teased.

I shrugged and took a bite of some of the food on my plate. I started with the bird looking thing. It was tender and had a lot of natural juices.

'Duck maybe? Duck is supposed to be tender and juicy.'

There were chunks of assorted fruit on my plate as well. I speared one with my fork and was about to eat it when Lon'qu stopped me.

"You obviously don't know much about Feroxi cuisine so I'll spare you embarrassment. That's a Naga Jolokia pepper. It's the spiciest pepper available in these lands."

I looked at the pepper chunk.

"It doesn't look that spicy."

He huffed. "Fine, ignore my warning."

I sniffed the pepper. It made my nose run slightly and my eyes watered, but the pepper had an almost sweet scent.

'I do like spicy, and I took the Mucho Macho challenge at Cazueleas...'

I ate the piece of pepper and slowly chewed it. Lon'qu was right, it was spicy as heck, but not unbearably so.

"This isn't half ba-Ahh!"

My words were cut off by a sudden squeak that turned into a full blown rape squeal.

"I told you." Lon'qu said with a huff.

"Eurrishsho spishy! Muuraah!"

Everyone at the table other than Lon'qu was laughing at my misfortune. When I could finally talk normally I swore at the peppers still on my plate and ate another one.

"You fricken died eating the first pepper..." Gaius said slowly.

"And you're going to eat another one?"

I smiled, albeit a tad pained.

"Yeah. Man was that brutal but the pepper was tasty."

Gregor laughed. "That is ballsy, a good woman is ballsy."

Gaius rolled his eyes. "Is Sane ballsy or daft?"

That earned a slight chuckle from Lon'qu.

"Both?" He offered.

Meanwhile, I was eating those supposedly most spicy peppers in Ferox like they were candy.

"Gaius, these peppers actually have a sweet taste. You should try some."

He laughed weakly and shook his head.

"No thanks, I like my taste buds intact."

Gregor pulled a knife off his belt and set it on the table.

"How ballsy are you feeling Sane?"

'Oh... Woah... I'm not into the whole knife thing...'

"Oh, are we playing five-finger fillet?" Gaius asked with a grin.

Stahl stood up. "I'll get a healer..."

Lon'qu smiled. "This should be fun."

They all placed one hand in the center of the table.

"Sane, it's totally fine if you're too much of a girl. Let the guys handle this one."

I glared at Gaius.

"Nuts to that, pass up an opportunity to be stupid? Why do you guys think my name is Sane?"

Gregor laughed. "I'd you are managing to be cutting off a finger, Gregor will volunteer to be helping to with your dressing."

I blushed. "I'm sure I can dress myself if I lose a finger Gregor."

I put my hand in the middle of the table with the guys. I accidentally touched Lon'qu's hand in the process and he jerked it back.

"Watch it!" He snapped.

Gaius picked up the knife. "I'll go first."

He tapped the knife between his fingers in a familiar pattern. It looked like he was going slower than people I'd seen in YouTube videos, but I could've sworn he had absolutely no space between his fingers and the knife. When he did a couple passes, he stopped and passed the knife to Lon'qu. He took it without saying anything and trapped the knife between his fingers as well. As he did, he'd periodically look at me and smirk, as if he were challenging me. His taps were quicker than Gaius' had been, and I was expecting him to stab himself.

'This dudes hardcore!'

When it was Gregor's turn, I was almost certain I was going to see some blood.

'This is like the naked man theory from How I Met Your Mother, and Gregor just so happens to be Barny.'

Gregor trapped the knife between his fingers at a speed that was between Gaius and Lon'qu. He was watching the knife intently, as if he thought he would make a mistake. He didn't though, and passed the knife to me with a lopsided grin. I was about to take my turn when a shadow passed over me.

"Sane, please refrain from doing something that would cause you harm."

I looked at the owner and flashed an apologetic smile.

"Oh, sorry Libra. But I'm not about to pass up an opportunity for some shenanigans."

"I must advise against this..."

"I'll be fine, I've fine this before."

'And if memory serves,I got nothing but pinky on my final pass...'

I picked up the knife and looked at Gregor uncertainly.

"How sharp do you keep this thing?"

"Is very sharp. Hit finger in right place and bone will be cut."

'Bugger freaking all...' "Let's do this!" I was more excited than I should've been at the prospect if losing a finger, but without an adult who was going to physically stop me, there was nothing to prevent me from shenaniguizing. I picked up the knife and smiled. I tapped the knife between my fingers almost

as fast as Lon'qu.

"Oh, I've got all my fingers, the knife goes chop, chop, chop..."

I don't know if it was the borderline twisted grin on my face, the fact I was actually doing this, or the cute little song I was singing to accompany these shenanigans, but suddenly the guys didn't seem so amused. Lon'qu paled, Gregor seemed concerned and poor Gaius looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

'Time for the grand finale yeah?'

I tapped the knife even faster. It was a miracle I hadn't gotten myself yet.

"Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, I'm picking up the speed, and if I cut my fingers then my hand will start to bleed!"

I punctuated the end of the song by jabbing the knife into the table and grinning. The guys still had the looks on their faces, and it was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah, totally sane..." Gaius mumbled.

I lowered my eyes and pulled my hand off the table. I tried to smile, but what came out was a pained grimace.

"Well, that was fun, but I should probably find Chrom and figure out what we're doing tomorrow."

I waved goodbye and left the dining hall. As soon as I was outside I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and facepalmed.

"Brilliant, Sane." I mumbled harshly to myself.

"What did you do this time?"

Chrom I guess had been lurking outside the dining hall as well for reasons unknown and saw me facepalm.

"Oh, the usual..."

I looked around. It seemed like we were the only two people who weren't in the dining hall.

"Where have you been Chrom?"

"I was with Emmeryn."

'That's right... I suppose if my sister had a near death experience I'd want to be with her too.'

"We were talking about... Well, what happened in Plegia. She told me what you did for her."

Chrom seemed to have an almost guilty expression on his face.

"Sane, I should have listened to you."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Beg pardon?"

"You told me that if we tried to bring Emmeryn to the eastern palace, she'd be captured. And I didn't listen."

He took a deep breath.

"Both you and Emmeryn could've died, and your blood would've been on my hands."

I shook my head.

"Our blood would've been on Gangrel's hands, not yours Chrom."

Chrom smiled sadly.

"You can't seem to hold a grudge, can you Sane?"

I shook my head.

"Oh no, I can hold grudges. I guess..."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I dunno. I can't hold a grudge against you."

I could've swore I saw Chrom blush a little when I said that.

"Thanks."

He looked around.

"So why are you all alone? I thought for sure you'd be getting to know the new Shepherds."

I rubbed the back of my neck.

"I... Kind of... Murr, I think I creeped them out."

He cocked his head to the side.

"Oh? How did you manage that?"

I flashed a painful smile.

"We were playing five-finger fillet and... I sang a song while I took my turn." He chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds like something you'd do. Did you at least win?"

I shrugged.

"I guess. I don't think they're playing another round."

Chrom chuckled weakly. "I guess you'll have that."

We were quiet for a while, then Chrom shifted to serious mode.

"Gangrel has to pay for what he's done."

It's amazing how he can be so calm one moment, then filled with a steely presence the next.

"What do you propose we do?" I asked.

I knew what he was going to say, but I figured I should play the role of Robin whenever I had the opportunity.

"We should attack Gangrel. He deserves to die after what's happened today."

'Does he really?'

"Maybe. But should we be the ones to deliver that punishment?"

"Well what would you do in my place Sane? If that mad man tried to kill your sister? Or any member of your family for that matter?"

I looked down at my feet.

"If anyone tried to harm my family..."

I knew what I'd do to them. With this power that I have, I'd kill them.

"You know this has to be done, right Sane?"

I looked at Chrom.

"Does it really? Who's to say we have the right to kill. We're not Gods, we're not allowed to just take whosever life we please."

Chrom laughed cruelly.

"I've seen you kill before, why would this be different?"

"Because here we're planning to kill in revenge! This isn't defense, or... To protect... This is cold-blooded murder we're talking! Maybe there's another way..."

He took a deep breath. "How could you have so much knowledge and still be so naïve?"

I glared at him.

"Look, all the times I've seen this play out, two things have always been the same. The death of Emmeryn, and the death of Gangrel. Maybe if Emmeryn could live, so could he."

Chrom shook his head. "Do you realize how crazy you sound? There is no way we could let that madman live."

I said nothing.

"Will you come by my room later so we can work out some strategies? I have a general idea of what I want to do, but I figured your input would be valuable."

I nodded. "Which one is yours?"

He pointed a ways down the hall.

"It has the banner with the green dragon... Lizzard... Looking thing."

"All right, I'll be by later."

He thanked me and walked into the dining hall.

'This doesn't sound right... I can't kill someone for no reason... Maybe I can talk Chrom out of it.'

I shook my head as if to dispel those thoughts.

'No... He's made up his mind. Maybe this event can't be changed after all...'

I took a deep breath.

'Unless I'm willing to commit high treason.'

If you've never watched How I Met Your Mother, and have no idea what I'm talking about by the Naked Man theory, go YouTube that. It's pretty amusing. Also, the Naga Jolokia pepper Sane was eating is based off a pepper that in real life I've eaten called the Buht Jolokia. You know that spice scale thing? Well, this pepper is higher than pepper spray on that scale if memory serves. Except, when I ate the pepper, instead of going back for seconds, they almost had to call the squad on me. Yeah. It'll tear you up. I can play five-finger fillet in real life, although I've never played with a knife sharp enough to do any damage. Also, that little song I was singing is actually a thing, go YouTube that too. The Knife Game Song.