Hello whomever is reading this! I haven't written anything in awhile and I wanted to try my hand at it again with a little help from some inspiration. Sorry if the story begins a little slow or the writing is quite bland. I'm like a bear waking up from hibernation.

Anyways, this story is gonna be my version of what happened in between Queen's Blade 2 and Queen's Blade: Rebellion. I couldn't find too much on the subject except the vague outline for each character, so don't get too angry if it doesn't follow exactly what actually happened.

Hope the spelling/grammar isn't too bad! Enjoy the read anyways!

Prologue

How long had it been since she was first stuck in here? Days? Weeks? Maybe even months? It was impossible to tell in this hell hole. One day dripped into the next, smearing everything into an unknown amount of time. For all she knew, years could have passed.

It had been a long time since she actually cared about the time. At first, she had kept simple track of it, listening for each round the castle guard would take. Eventually, even that sound faded out into the hollow sound of her breath against the cold stone walls of the cell. Why should time matter if all it ever did was run from you?

Albeit all the wasted time, she still had the small shred of hope, believing that somewhere, someone was planning to save her sorry ass. There were times when she doubted this small voice in her head, thinking it was just the prolonged captivity giving her false hope. Maybe it was just all this time stuck inside the dark that was getting to her. Yeah, that was probably it.

She shifted slightly, the chains around her limbs rattling at the small movement. It rubbed uncomfortably against the raw skin underneath, but she paid it no mind. There was absolutely nowhere to sit comfortably in such a claustrophobic area, for she had spent a great deal of effort trying.

She sighed deeply, resting against the wall once again. The sound was loud in her ears, bouncing easily off the walls of the enclosed space. She leaned her head back against the wall, taking the moment to think. It had been a while since she had done that.

The first thing that came to her mind was the beginning; the starting point of everything that had happened in the period of time between then and now; how she had ended up in this predicament; how everything she worked so hard for was probably in ruins, if not extremely close to that.

A small smirk graced her lips for the first time in ages, recalling all the events that led her to the small dark cell she was currently inhabiting.

In the end, it all came down to the influence of one person.

The name ghosted by, floating on the wind, not nearly loud enough to reflect from the walls, but that didn't matter. She knew it well enough.

"Leina."

Queen's Blade. One of the most well known events across the continent and she had taken part. Sort of. What a mess that had been. Not only had she ended up losing in the semi-finals, but she had been under mind control almost the entire time. Though, the blame was mostly hers.

Before her first fight, the lure of riches beyond belief hung heavy in her mind as she gazed upon the current Queen's castle. Why even participate if she could just loot the place and be done with it? That was the entire reason she was here anyways, so what could go wrong?

Apparently, quite a bit.

Before she could leave with anything she had found, the queen herself had encountered her and turned her into a slave of the mind. Sure, it wasn't that bad. She had her own faction of warriors that she had control over. Even the treatment she received wasn't too half-assed.

The one problem with this state was the inability to do anything on free will. Sure, she could make decisions to some extent, but only if they helped the goals set by the queen. Otherwise, she was completely at the mercy of the queen, and that didn't sit well with her.

With the help of the queen's demon, she was able to win all the rounds up to the second last. At the time, it was a good thing she had lost. The spell she was under was broken and the continent might've been run by a good queen. Looking back it now, she wasn't so sure anymore.

The one who beat her was none other than Leina Vance. When she first met the girl, she knew next to nothing about swordplay. Sure, she had the basics of aristocrat fencing, but no more. She ended up saving Leina from being strangled to death by the shape shifting demon Melona.

Yeah, the reasons may have been selfish, but at least she wasn't killed.

From that moment on, Leina only grew in her swordsmanship until she was able to beat her in the semi-final round of the tournament. The loss was kind of ironic in a way. She was Leina's idol from the beginning, who could crush her with simple ease, and by the end of it turned to into the loser of the match. It was also Leina's turn to pay back the debt of saving her life.

She stayed to watch the final match versus the queen, which also turned out to be against the demon, Delmore, who was sharing the queen's body and the source of her power. Of course, Leina was victorious and that was the perfect moment to take her leave.

She sighed, hands clasped behind her head, as she walked down the dusty road stretching out before her. There was a long way to go before she was back in her territory. She closed her eyes and let her feet carry her for the moment, the unmoving air hot against her skin.

It had been quite a few hours since the Queen's Blade ended and she had yet to stop for anything. The idea of resting was quite appealing, though she pushed it off, knowing she had a lot of ground to cover. The sun was just beginning to set and she could take a break when it was too dark to travel. She inhaled a deep breath of the stale air, and opened her eyes with a fresh perspective, leaving the city of Gainos and all of its memories behind her.