Morning came too soon. Initially I didn't even realize it was morning. I simply woke up and my body was already on autopilot, dressing and getting ready for my morning training session. The only thing that I remembered was my hair. Shorter than I was used to.

'That's right, because it was cut.'

Everyone's attitude towards me had changed. There was no more open friendliness. No. That had been replaced with a cool caution.

'Be careful. Sane could snap at any moment and kill you.'

Training brought a strange relief to me. I imagined that I was fighting Livvy, and winning of course. She was never a 'sword' person in my opinion, maybe that was why I was so inept at wielding swords, after all Livvy's just a carbon copy of me. With added malice of course. I couldn't find anyone willing to spar with me, as they were no doubt still sulking over yesterday.

'Considering Cordelia was the one who started yesterday's little squabble, she should be the one getting treated like the rabid wolf, not me.'

In my defense, my swordsmanship was getting better. I was holding my sword better, not dropping it as much, I was even able to do that neat spinny thing where the sword is sort of like a baton, but it's not.

'What's the English word for that again?'

The next thing I decided to work on was my strength. I was getting tired of barely being able to hold back an enemy attack, it was time for me to start putting them under as much pressure as they were putting on me. A solid blow can easily disrupt an opponent's guard, and if their guard is disrupted they'd be an easy target. If I could figure out a way to disrupt an opponent with one good opening blow, it would be more than easy to finish them off with a series of more frequent, albeit lighter blows. I felt proud of myself for coming up with this strategy, and I felt like I was going to burst from not being able to share it with anyone.

'Not that anyone is particularly interested in talking to me at the moment anyway...'

After my morning training I ate a hearty breakfast consisting of a salty broth, dried fruit and a couple sweets that Gaius was genius enough to leave where I could swipe them. After that I rifled through some of the notes Miriel had given me. Looking at her neat handwriting made me shiver. I never saw her after she died, but I saw where she was buried on my way to train earlier.

'I wish I could've said something to you Miriel... I'm... Sorry I let you down.'

We were down two Shepherds. I'm all for killing off Maribelle for the sake of inventory or support hacking, but the fact that Vaike and Miriel are actually dead and gone, never to come back is just so surreal.

'No, don't think about it Sane, just... Tralfamadore this... If that's a thing anyway...'

I didn't have long with Miriel's notes before it was time to pack up and get moving. By the scouts estimates, we'd meet Gangrel's small army within a couple hours. Hearing that the battle was so soon unnerved me slightly, but at the same time almost excited me.

'Twisted little bugger, aren't you Sane?'

I flinched at Livvy's voice in my head, but didn't dignify her with a reply. I had to worry about mentally preparing myself for today's battle.

'Well... As prepared as I can be for committing treason anyway.'

When we reached the ridge that would lead bring us before Gangrel's troops, Chrom pulled me aside with a steely look in his eyes.

"You're sitting this battle out." He told me plainly.

I looked at him for a second, not comprehending, then smiled.

"Ha ha... You're funny."

Chrom was frowning.

"I'm not joking. You're not fighting today. I can't trust you."

His eyes were hard and he was looking at me in disdain. I raised an eyebrow momentarily then frowned right back at him.

"What do you mean you can't trust me? I've been with you since the battle of Southtown, of course you can trust me."

He shook his head.

"You attacked Cordelia, I can't trust you after that."

"Of course you can trust me!"

"I can't trust someone who would attack an ally!"

I glared at him.

"Look, you really don't have much of a choice."

He scoffed.

"A choice, Sane? Yes, I do. You're the one who doesn't have a choice."

He tried to walk away from me but I grabbed him by the wrist. Either I didn't know my own strength or Chrom was just caught that off guard because he hissed in surprise and tried to pull his wrist away.

"Look Chrom, maybe you're right, maybe you can't trust me to be a Shepherd, but there is one thing you can trust me on. You can trust that I would never let anything happen to you or anyone else. You have to believe me when I say this!"

He looked into my eyes for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, the hard edge slowly began to fade from his eyes and his scowl became a weak smile.

"Alright Sane... I... I believe you."

I bowed my head to him.

"Thank you Chrom, I swear to upon everything that I am, I shall aid you and the Shepherds in any way I can."

He nodded.

"Then come with me and discuss strategy with the others, I can hardly send anyone into battle without a plan."

Gangrel's troops stood no chance. We mowed them down swiftly and without mercy. He tried hitting us with everything he had, and still nothing would even slow us down. I led the charge right alongside Chrom, blasting most of the Plegian troops before Chrom could even lift Falcion.

"Alright Sane, we're almost finished!"

Standing between us and Gangrel was three Sorcerers, two Swordmasters, an Assassin and two Griffin Riders.

"Right. You, Frederick, Gaius and Virion handle the Griffin Riders. Sully, Stahl, Kellam and Donnel will go after the Swordmasters, Tharja, Cordelia and Libra can handle the Sorcerers and I'll take the Assassin."

Chrom glanced over at me.

"Are you sure you can go toe to toe with an Assassin? They don't become assassins because they're easy."

I grinned.

"Don't worry Chrom, I've been practicing some new tricks."

I could tell he wasn't convinced, but he trusted me enough to nod and begin handing out the orders. I knew fighting an Assassin would be easy for me, I had all but mastered the ability to create a nearly unbreakable shield with my magic and use it not only to defend myself, but to knock enemies away. It wasn't fatal, but it could put them out of commission long enough for me to either get away or have someone else finish them off for me. The only downside was it was harder for me to focus my magic into something physical enough to resist an impact. But for the simple task of defeating an Assassin, I wouldn't need to work that hard.

My foe was smart enough to keep his distance with a bow drawn. I had to pay attention to him, because if I looked away for too long he'd be able to let loose an arrow, and the last thing I wanted was to have to play a game of 'pull the arrow out of my lung'. I saw the Assassin release the arrow he had been holding and quickly jumped to the left. Almost quicker than I could react to however he sent another one flying at me with scary accuracy. I was able to dodge out of the way again, but only just.

'I'm going to have to find a way to hit him, but the easier it is for me to hit him, the easier it's going to be for him to hit me as well.'

'You know, why don't you let me take over for a bit? I'll take care of your little Assassin problem.'

'How about you not?'

'Fine, then how about I offer you some advice then?'

I quickly threw up a shield to negate an arrow that would've pierced my lung.

'I'm doing well enough without you thanks.'

'Says the one who nearly caught an arrow the wrong way.'

'Because there's a proper way to catch an arrow, yes?'

The Assassin was becoming more bold in his attacks, now that he realized that I wasn't going to be able to avoid his arrows and make an attack on him at the same time.

'Just think about this: It sure does look like he's holding a silver bow, and silver is a conductive element isn't it? It wouldn't take much of a jolt to get him to drop it yes? You do have that back up thunder tome tucked into your cloak.'

'...'

She was right, as much as I hated to admit it. I could pull out my Thunder tome and use a small localized pulse of energy to disrupt him. It wouldn't hurt too much, but the shock would certainly disrupt him and possibly cause him to drop his bow.

'Then he'd be open to an attack... But why would you try to help me?'

'Because I was never a total ass, was I dear Sane?'

I took ahold of the tome and flipped it open. Chanting a few quick words I felt the energy build up and released it into the Assassins bow. He cried out in shock and dropped it. I quickly charged forward with my main tome in my hands. The Assassin rushed forward as well, sword in hand. I launched a ball of fire which he swatted away like it was a fly with the sword. He did the same to several other similar attacks I launched at him. He was moving quicker than I, and soon was too close for me to effectively use my tome. I switched to a sword and met him in combat.

He proved to be too quick for me in such close quarters and was able to land several deep gashes on my upper arms. One swing from his sword nearly took my head off it's shoulders.

'Livvy! Any more bright ideas?'

'...'

'Fine then, I'll handle this myself!'

'It's no job of mine to save your sorry arse.'

From out of nowhere, a familiar figure clad in Myrmidon robes appeared and cut down the Assassin I had been locked in battle with. I stared in surprise at Lon'qu.

"Not bad considering Sane, but you should still be grateful I was here." He said gruffly.

I nodded.

"It looks like the battle is almost over Sane. You should go see one of the healers."

I shook my head.

"I'm not done."

He raised an eyebrow.

"What's left to do?"

"Only stop a murder."

"So you know Chrom's plan for the mad King?"

I suddenly felt uneasy.

"I do. And I intend to stop it."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. What do you intend to do about it?"

"Nothing."

I began to walk away.

"The penalty for treason in Ylisse is death."

I ignored Lon'qu.

"Don't throw your life away for such a miserable worm."

'I'm not throwing my life away for a worm... I'm trying to save another life.'

Wehn I finally found Gangrel, it wasn't a moment too soon. Chrom had him cornered and seemed to be yelling at him. both men were bloodied, Gangrel thankfully worse off.

"You're a miserable man Gangrel, hardly deserving of the title 'Man'. You've taken countless lives, and today your reign of terror is over!"

I approached them, not bothering to be quiet. Chrom glanced back at me only to ensure I wasn't a foe before turning his gaze back to Gangrel.

"Please, spare me noble Lord! Certainly you can't bring yourself to kill a man who's defenseless as me? Where's the honour in that?"

"You've no honour Gangrel, why should I show any to you?"

With that, Chrom raised Falcion to deliver the killing blow.

And that is when I stepped before him and raised my own blade.

Gaah! The suspense is killing me! This chapter is up pretty quick considering how I've been with the uploads lately... Agian, sorry for that, honestly and truly. This chapter is a biggun, having about 2000 words. I feel like I should explain one of the things Sane said about Tralfamadore. Tralfamadore is a fictional place talked about in the book 'Slaughterhouse-5' by Kurt Vonnegut. On the planet Tralfamadore, all of time is happening all the time. Meaning, somewhere in time, you are forever having your first kiss, or forever holding your baby for the first time etc. (That technically goes with the bad too, but we can ignore that fact yeah?)

So when Sane says to 'Tralfamadore that' what she means is to think that in some time stream, Miriel is alive and the two of them are together being friends or what ever, and they will be forever so Sane doesn't have to feel sad.