The path from the east gate was longer than she remembered and Severa ran all the way down the hall to get Holland out of the fortress. Cordelia and three other Pegasus riders made a pathway for her and slung spells with the magic users on the other side of the wall. It took her some time, but she recognized the Dark Fliers by basing it on hair color. Everybody looked so young (some of them were probably younger than her now) that she couldn't call them Aunt anymore. Lissa, Olivia, Sumia, looked majestic on top of their winged steeds. She was a bit happy to see Lissa alive and well and also surprised that Lissa fought alongside Chrom. Where she came from, the Lissa she knew was left to stew in Ylisse.
Severa can't shake the image of Lissa's corpse at the Sanctuary Entrance off of her mind.
She hurried to the hall where she saw Holland go to. The door was locked when she got there and the only other pathway was filled with mercenaries who were out to kill anything that moved. "Damn! I'm so close to saving the blasted farmer. Gods if you can send me a miracle, that would be great."
Her father came to her call with Panne sitting behind him on his horse. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Severa's mouth quivered. She missed her father so much, but she had to hold in her tears. There were other important things to do than crying.
"Yes. Somebody please open this door," Severa answered. Panne hopped off the horse and picked the door lock.
"There, all done," Panne said. The taguel hooped back on Frederick's horse and the two of them left to clear the hallway.
Severa ran ahead to the farmer, "Holland!" she cried.
"Severa! What are you doing here? If he knows you left your post..."
"I'm leaving, Holland, and you're coming with me," she grabbed the farmer's arm.
"Severa, I... I can't. You know I can't. I have a wife. If I don't earn Nelson's coin, she'll starve. I know it's blood money, but—"
"Your wife is PREGNANT, Holland! You know that, don't you?!"
"Of course I know that! And it's none of your concern!"
She's having none of it. Holland was stupid in comparison to Anouk. "Do you love your child, Holland? Do you love your wife?"
"Of course I do!"
"Then stop making excuses! I know that parents will do anything for their children..." she looked away. "But I also know how it feels when a child loses her parents. This world's got far too many kids who've gone through that. If you stay, you'll be killed or worse. And your child deserves better!"
Holland took off his pot helmet. "Severa, I...I'm sorry. I didn't know. That must have been hard for you…"
Severa stared glared at him. 'I do not need your sympathy. I need you to get out of here.'
"You're right. My child deserves better. Let's get out of here."
"Really?!" She didn't think that he could be easily convinced.
"Yes, really. But we have to hurry!" She signaled to someone to come take Holland away. Frederick came and assisted the farmer out of the building.
Footsteps were heard coming from the trapdoors near her. With a bang, the doors opened and a couple of sages appeared.
"You!" One of them exclaimed. "You traitor!"
Severa ran the sage through with her sword before the sage could cast a spell on her. Then she pulled out her sword and killed the other one. Before she could catch her breath, an assassin and a berserker arrived. She weighed her options 'sword versus axe, and sword versus sword. The sword has the advantage of length. Barbarian it is!'
"Aaaahhh!" Severa screamed as she launched herself to attack the huge brute. Her sword clashed against the axe, but her enemy's strength caught her off guard. The barbarian disarmed her and her sword clattered to the ground.
She waited for the axe to cleave her in two. 'This is it. I'll die before she can save the world. How pathetic."
Thundering hoofbeats reverberated down the hall. 'Thank the gods, my father returned!' In an instant, a blur of rider and horse came to her side, blocked the incoming axe attack and fell the barbarian. "Made it!" he said.
Severa took that as an opportunity to grab her sword and charge at the assassin. The assassin was too fast for her and managed to block her attack, but the rider helped her out with one well placed thrust to the neck. The assassin slowly slid off the rider's sword, his blood smearing the cold steel. It was one of the gorier kills that Severa has seen in her entire life, but it saved her bacon.
"Are you alright?" The rider asked her.
She looked up, expecting her father, but saw a completely different man. He was tall, had a charming yet goofy grin, and he was extending her a helping hand. 'Hello Stahl. You just had to be dashing. So what is the most dashing cliché thing that a knight would do? Rescue the damsel.' Severa flushed. "I… I… S-Sss…" now that she found him, she was at a total loss for words. She threw her arms around his waist.
It was awkward since he was still on top of his horse. "Whoa! I didn't expect you to just throw your arms around me like that," he said as he scratched his cheek.
"You're alive!" she exclaimed.
He gently pushed her away. "Um, you must've mistaken me for somebody else," he said. "I'm sorry but, I haven't met you before."
In that moment, her world came crashing down. She knew that nobody would recognize her in the past, but it still hurt when she was reminded of it. And it hurt more when those words came from him.
He smiled warmly when he noticed her unease and he patted her head. He assisted her up his horse, "That doesn't mean that I won't take the chance to get to know you."
Her face turned red.
"I'm Stahl by the way. Don't worry, I'm here now and I've got you. We should head back with the rest of the company."
Severa shook her head. "No, let's take on Nelson. He's the mercenary boss and I know where he is. You have to take me to him, he has something of mine and it's important. It's really, really important!"
He nodded. "Alright. Let's do this. Hiya!" he urged his horse to run to the leader's whereabouts. Severa clung on tightly to his waist and closed her eyes. 'It's him. It's really him. I found him and I'm with him.'
Stahl and Severa made their way to Nelson. He grabbed the nearest Thoron book he saw when he saw Severa riding a horse with somebody who wasn't a part of his company. "Traitorous wench!" the sage cried.
Severa brandished her sword. "You've got to be loyal before you can be a traitor, you idiot! And you're one to talk, extorting a poor, innocent girl like me... It's time you learned just how deadly this innocent girl can be!" Severa shouted.
Stahl took that as a cue to charge at the sage. They were met with a lightning bolt that came out of Nelson's fingertips. He maneuvered his horse to avoid it, and when he got close enough, the girl behind him struck. She sliced off his arm in one clean cut, the book falling down to the floor on a puddle of blood. Stahl turned around again to charge at the enemy and deliver the final strike.
The destrier slowed down in front of the fallen sage and Severa dismounted. She knelt to pick up the dismembered hand and take off her mother's ring, "yes, here it is!" She saw a talisman around Nelson's neck and took it as well.
Chrom and a little girl, who Severa thought was Nowi, caught up to them. He saw the piece of gold glinting in Severa's hands."Is that a ring?" he asked.
"It's MY ring, and I'll thank you to stop staring so lustily at it! It's worth more than anything in the world to me... That rat Nelson stole it one night while I was sleeping."
"Well, I'm glad you were able to get it back," Chrom said.
"...Hmph"
Chrom, Nowi and Stahl looked at each other. The new girl certainly had an attitude.
The rest of the company managed to make their way to where Chrom was.
"Oh. ...You," Cordelia said.
"Wh-what do you want?!" She asked her mother.
"Just to thank you for helping us. You fought bravely, er..."
"Severa. ...My name's Severa."
"It suits you somehow. Oh, and my name—"
"Cordelia. I know." She looked away from her.
"Er, yes, that's... But how did you...? I'm sorry, did I introduce myself before?"
"I guess you must have if I know your name. Gods..." her mother was as exasperating as she was in her other life.
"I...I see. Well, thank you all the same, Severa."
"You already said that!" Severa stomped her foot. "And besides, it's not like I did anything special. I was just fighting to get back what's rightfully mine."
"Are you referring to that ring?" Cordelia peered at the thing in Severa's hand. "Oh, goodness. It looks exactly like…" the ring in her finger glinted and matched the bloody one in Severa's hands.
"Ah, I see. That would explain how you know my name. You're a friend of Lucina's, aren't you? ...And you're my child. Isn't that right?"
Frederick's eyes widened when he heard this. He absentmindedly touched his hair and looked at the girl. "She is mine," he said happily.
Severa looked at the floor and traced circles with her foot. "...lonely..." she said softly.
"What was that?" Cordelia asked.
"I SAID, I thought you'd be lonely, so I came here to see you! ...You're welcome."
Cordelia smiled. "That's very sweet."
"D-don't mock me! You don't care! You don't care at all..." She also didn't care that she was making a scene in front of everyone.
"How could you possibly think that? I'm thrilled beyond words to meet you," Cordelia said. She dismounted her Pegasus and walked towards Severa, wanting to give her a hug but the girl slapped her hand away.
"Then why'd you leave me? You said you had to go off to fight for what really mattered, and you never came back! You picked Chrom over me!"
There was a collective gasp amongst the Shepherds. They all looked at Chrom who was just as startled at what Severa said. "What the hey Chrom! You're married!" Lissa scolded her brother. His wife Olivia shook her head and chuckled. She found this quite amusing.
Cordelia's face reddened but she calmed herself down. "You have me at a disadvantage, Severa. I can't answer for my future self. But when I said I was fighting for what mattered, I probably meant you. I'd want nothing more than to build a world where you could grow up happy and strong. At least, that's what I want right now."
"You think I don't know that? I mean, I DO know that, but..." her own words to Holland resounded in her head. 'I know that parents will do anything for their children...'
"I'm sorry I wasn't a better mother to you," Cordelia looked like her perfection was about to be marred with tears.
No, she didn't go all the way back to the past to destroy her relationship with her mother. She went back to fix the world, and that included how she treated her mother. "Well, you're still MY mother, which makes you the best mother in the world."
"And the luckiest, it seems."
She threw her arms around Cordelia and cried. "Oh, Mom, I missed you so much!" Cordelia drew her closer and ran her fingers through the mercenary's hair. "I...I'm sorry I was so mean... I just... I didn't want to lose you again... Promise you won't leave, okay? Promise!"
"I promise," Cordelia said.