Two soldiers were sitting on horses – horses that bore the same patches and gray skin as the deer Stahl and Gaius saw – in the woods near a bustling town. One of them sighed, being incredibly bored with his duties.

"Does the Queen really think we need this many soldiers at a town?" he asked, placing his head on his hand as he did so.

The other soldier planted his hand on his face for a brief moment before turning his head to face his partner. "Yeah, Queen Cordelia is being extreme, but we can't let the Archanean Empire fall before Libra"

"I know, I know, Libra would bring ruin. But still…."

Meanwhile, from one of the trees, Stahl was sitting atop a branch, staring down at the two soldiers. With a look of determination on his face, he raised his axe – preparing to take out one of the soldiers.

He threw the axe, and just barely missed the soldier, hitting the horse instead. He was upset at having hurt the animal like that, but it did get the horse to throw the solider off and run into the woods.

The other soldier only yelled and tried to get his horse to go into town to get help. Just as his horse began to run, however, Sumia emerged from behind a tree and threw her lance at the horse – she was able to get the horse in the leg, sending it crashing towards the ground. The soldier fell of the horse and found himself rammed right into a tree.

The soldier whose horse had been struck with an axe tried to run into town, but Gaius dashed in front of him and decked him in the face. Gaius ripped the front part of the soldier's body armor off and impaled him with the lance he took from the village.

The other soldier was impaled in the leg by Sumia and fell to the ground. Sumia put her foot on his back and aimed her lance. Stahl and Gaius did not see her finish off the man, but they could hear it.

"Archanean scum" Sumia muttered to herself as she took a look at her bloodied lance, still letting her coldness exhibit itself. She looked at Stahl and Gaius and nodded.

"This way. The town's right over here." Stahl and Gaius followed Sumia, and within a few minutes they were right by civilization.

"Now, we need to lay very, very low." Sumia said, narrowing her eyes. "I'm one of the most wanted fugitives on the continent"

Gaius smirked. "Trust me, I know how to lay low" his smirk vanished when he turned his attention to Stahl. "But I don't know about Munches here."

Stahl let out an 'uh' and rubbed his neck. "…I'll manage"

The three walked into town, and while they got some stares from the citizens, no one was thinking anything of them.

Sumia stopped in her tracks, and not knowing what else to do, Stahl and Gaius stopped as well. Sumia turned around and looked up at the two men. "Alright, here's the deal. There's always a few abandoned houses in these towns or villages – the people who lived in them…well, they spoke out against the Empire and 'mysteriously' vanished" she did quotations with her fingers, and neither Stahl nor Gaius were too dumb to know what she was getting at. "I'll help you guys find one of those houses, so that you have somewhere to stay."

Gaius only nodded, while Stahl replied "Shouldn't we get some food or something first? I haven't eaten in an eternity."

Gaius sighed and shook his head. He could have gone for some sweets himself, but he knew that the trio should worry about finding a place to hide first. Sumia let out a sigh of exasperation and would voice her disapproval.

"Look…'Munches'…we can worry about food later. A place to hide comes first and foremost!"

Stahl couldn't help but rub his neck again. "Erm, okay…" It was then he realized that Sumia didn't know his name. He had forgotten to introduce himself, and Gaius only called him 'Munches'. As Sumia and Gaius walked forward, Stahl raised his finger as he followed behind. "Although wait – my name is Stahl!"

As they continued on, Gaius looked around and raised an eyebrow. He remembered the comments those two soldiers had made – they indicated that Queen Cordelia had soldiers all around this town, but he couldn't see any. Even with how crowded this town was, he felt he should've seen something. Sumia was turning her head left and right – and from her body language, Gaius suspected that she was growing suspicious as well.

Then the crowds in front of them began to grow silent and move out of the way of…something. Sumia's eyes widened when she saw what it was, and she began pushing her way through the crowd. Unsure of what else to do, Stahl and Gaius followed. Stahl was able to get a glimpse of what was going on.

Archanean soliders were riding their way through town, and leading them was none other than Vaike and Cherche. Cherche donned a white version of the knight armor while Vaike wore a muted orange variation of the mage outfit. Stahl was surprised by Cherche's presence for another reason than a familiar person in an unfamiliar world – she had hailed from the continent of Valm. Well, Valentia as it was still called here. What was she doing in the Archanean army? What also got his attention was the look of sadness on Cherche's face as she looked around the town.

As Sumia, Stahl, and Gaius all got to the back of the crowd, the latter two were just tall enough to see that soldiers were coming from the other direction. It was Kellam and Phila – Donnel was nowhere to be seen, though given how Stahl had got him in the foot, he was most likely being tended to. Vaike and Cherche stopped directly in front of Kellam and Phila, and all four got off their horses to discuss some matters that Stahl and Gaius could not hear.

Sumia in particular did not care enough to see what was going on – she only continued to run. Gaius overcame his curiosity and followed right behind her, but Stahl was distracted by the sight of his 'friends'. He saw Lieutenant Phila pointing west, and Kellam, Cherche, and Vaike all got on their horses and headed in that direction, accompanied by 6 soldiers. He snapped back to reality and realized he was about to lose Gaius and Sumia – he could just see Gaius' orange hair and bandana in the distance and followed after.

It took a few minutes, but the prince did catch up to the slave and the thief. Gaius gave Stahl a quick but disapproving glance before Sumia stopped in her tracks. Gaius and Stahl stopped a well, and they soon saw what caught her attention: A house. A house with an eerie vibe to it. The horn that made up all the windows was torn up, and the door had been taken off from its hinges. She wordlessly signaled Stahl and Gaius to follow her as she went into the house.

They went in to find most of the furniture flipped over and broken down, a couple of blood splatters on the wall, and what appeared to be bear meat on the table. Sumia, in attempt to confirm the state of the house, went over to touch the meat.

"Cold. Very cold." She peaked her head around and continued to investigate the house before turning her attention to Stahl and Gaius. "Yeah, this place was definitely opposed by people who opposed the Queen. You two will be able to take up residence here for the time being."

Stahl took another look at the blood splatters. "…Great."

Sumia put her hand through her hair before looking at her spear. "Now, before I head off for the Insurrection…" she glanced back up to make eye contact with Stahl and Gaius. "…What was my counterpart like?"

Stahl raised his finger again to speak, but cut himself off before he could begin and looked in a random direction. "Erm, actually…can you tell us one more thing about this world?"

Sumia let out a deep sigh of exasperation and narrowed her eyes. "…Damnit, fine."

"What happened to Valentia in this world?"

Sumia cupped her chin. "History has…forgotten how this happened…but Valentia and Judgral sank into the ocean shortly after Medeus was overthrown. The survivors came here to Archanea. Why do you ask?"

Stahl only shrugged. "I recognized a Valentian, that's all" He then got ready to tell Sumia about the world he and Gaius came from, but before he could open his mouth to say anything, he heard a loud and worrying sound coming from outside.

He sprang out of the house and found an old lady. It looked like she had tripped onto the ground, and she had dropped two thankfully empty pots. Stahl rushed to the lady's aid.

"Here, let me help you" he helped the old lady up before grabbing her pots and giving them to her. The old lady expressed her gratitude to Stahl before walking away, humming as she did so.

Stahl's attention was stolen by a man who was struggling to carry some baskets of food, and took the chance to help someone else out as he walked up to the man.

"Sir, do you need some help with those?" he asked in a polite tone.

"Y-yes" the man replied, being a tad taken aback by Stahl's willingness to help. "I don't live too far from here, but a little help won't hurt"

Stahl got two of his baskets and followed the man to his house, while Gaius and Sumia only watched. Sumia in particular had a completely dumbfounded and bedazzled look on her face.

After a few minutes, Stahl left the man's house with an even bigger smile on his face. Sumia could only scratch her head as she and Gaius watched Stahl break up an escalating argument between two random men before helping someone else – this time a young woman – carry some food to their house. When Stahl walked back up to Gaius and Sumia, he was surprised to see their odd looks.

"Munches, what the hell was that?"

Stahl raised an eyebrow as an uneasy look formed onto his face. "I…I was just helping out people…"

Gaius waved his hands around and shook his head. "You know what, man? You've might've fooled Chrom and Lissa and all the others, but you can't fool me."

Stahl titled his hand, his uneasy look shifting into a dirty one. "Excuse me?"

"Look, Munches, you and I are stuck together, whether we like it or not. We may not be on the best of terms, but since we have no one else, you might as well tell me…what are your ulterior motives for being so nice?"

Now Stahl was getting angry. "Ulterior motives? What are you talking about? I just really like helping people!"

Gaius only scoffed at that. "I'm not dumb, Munches. I've actually seen this act before – the boringly nice guy."

"Well, you know what, Gaius? Some of us aren't jerks!" Stahl's eyes widened. He had gotten caught up in the heat of the moment. "Okay, I'm sorry for going there, it's just…"

But then Stahl had a thought. Gaius was right – they were stuck together. That meant they should be more open – and Stahl decided to be upfront about how he felt. "…You know what? No. I'm really sorry, Gaius, but I don't like you. You were way too harsh with Vaike and Henry and the other Sumia, and…granted, I shouldn't have ate all of your candy, but did you have to punch me for it? That was out of line, Gaius!"

Sumia could only sigh at this. She had no idea what Stahl was talking about, so she couldn't weigh in at all. She felt very weird just standing there while they bickered.

"Well, Munches, you're right. I was out of line. But that doesn't mean I'm fond of you. Now be honest and reveal your true motives!"

Before Stahl could retort, something got his attention. It was the hooded man. He was passing by through town – Stahl and Gaius exchanged quick glances before looking back to the hooded man.

"We will settle this later" Gaius, said, and he and Stahl went after the hooded man – much to Sumia's confusion.

"Where the hell are you two going?" She asked. She tried not to tell, for she didn't want to draw too much attention from the townsfolk.

Stahl and Gaius began to charge towards the hooded man. Gaius placed his hand on the man's shoulder and turned him around with it, gritting his teeth as he did. But then Gaius realized – this wasn't the same guy. He could tell by the brown hair this man sported – from what little they could make out, the hooded man sported white hair.

Stahl didn't seem to pick up on that, and began to grip his axe very tightly, to Sumia's concern. "Stahl, don't attract too much attention, you idiot!" she whispered.

"Don't worry, this will turn out fine." Stahl walked up to the hooded man. "Who are you, and why did you do this"

The man looked at Stahl like he was insane. "What are you talking about?"

Just then, Stahl himself remembered the white guy the hooded man had sported. "Oh…" Stahl could only blush in embarrassment. "M-my bad, sir, we…we thought you were someone else."

The man formed a fist in response. "Well, now I'm gonna be late for work because of you! Thanks a lot!" The man shot a glare towards Stahl and Gaius before storming away. "The nerve of some people!"

Gaius scratched his cheek, unsure of what else to do. "Well, that was…something…"

Stahl noticed that Sumia was glaring at the both of them, and he just laughed nervously, trying to think up his explanation.

Just then, the three were knocked out – not by Archanean soldiers, but by three men dressed in brown leather. Three soldiers did witness the event, though they only gave the men knowing glances before going on with what they believed were more important duties. Though, if Sumia had not fallen on her stomach and thus could be recognized by the soldiers, it would've gone very differently.

They stopped when they reached a tall black woman with long blonde hair – it was Flavia, and she only smirked as she looked at the unconscious trio.

"We got the nobles, as you demanded" one of the men said, and Flavia's smirk morphed into a grin.

"Man, I've never seen these two at any events…probably because they had no loyalty. Traitorous noblemen always make the finest slaves. Now, show me the woman."

The man carrying Sumia dropped her onto the ground, and Flavia had an ecstatic look on her face. The man, however, was only confused. "Madam, why did you want this woman?"

Flavia would immediately clarify her request. "I knew it! This is Sumia herself! Basilio will be pleased to have her as a trophy. Get all three of them onto the carriage!"

The men did as she asked and carried the three onto one of the three nearby arriage, where a few other slaves been chained up, fully conscious and looking miserable. Two of them groaned loudly as Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia were thrown onto the carriage.

Flavia and one of the men got on the carriage where the three were been kept, and she and her minions rode their way out of the town – with Stahl and Gaius not having the slightest clue of what was to come.