Once Fiora finished narrating the events of that night and how she had been able to survive and escape the company's grip, she desperately tried to meet the gazes of her companions. However, everyone wore unreadable expressions and avoided her gaze. All but Ashe who stared at her intently. Fiora couldn't lie, she was more intimidating than ever before. She wondered what she thought and what she would say next. But the silence was wrecking her nerves already.

"Is that all?" Ashe asked eventually.

Fiora looked at her in confusion. "Yes, that is all that happened."

"Really?" Ashe took a step closer to her. Despite Fiora being taller, the height difference didn't do much to make her feel better. "Because I feel like you're hiding something."

Fiora was now completely baffled. She had absolutely no idea what Ashe was referring to and she was afraid to ask. "I'm not sure what you're talking about…?"

Ashe huffed sarcastically. "Aren't you now?"

Fiora shook her head.

"Perhaps I should enlighten you then." Ashe span around to face the rest of the PROJECT traces. "Our friend Fiora from here has been secretly working with Shauna Vayne. Isn't that lovely?"

"Just because she saved my life doesn't mean we are working together?" Fiora defended.

"Then how do you explain her knowing you would be there in the first place?" Ashe inquired. "Plus, there's something else which, I'm afraid, you cannot deny."

Warning: Increased levels of blood pressure

Fiora started panicking now. Was it possible that Ashe knew about the incident at the mansion of Norman Rose? But how?

Ashe received Fiora's silence as her cue to continue her little speech. "Apparently, she had been present at the confiscation of the USB that caused us so much trouble, a task that Vi had bestowed upon Vayne, as we all know."

»In conclusion, Fiora has been lying and working with someone outside our network. And what does that make her?" Ashe asked in the end.

"I'm not a traitor!" Fiora hissed, losing her patience. "I think you keep forgetting that Vayne is not our enemy."

"What I do know, Fiora, is that you lied to all of us and risked your life over a complete stranger. You could have at least gotten the USB then and save Yi from all this trouble!"

"And what would Vi give to the Pulsefire agents, then? How can you even blame me for what happened to him? In fact, if we are going to start pointing fingers here, if it's anyone's fault, then it's yours, Ashe."

Ashe glared at her, clearly infuriated. "Pardon me?"

Fiora had regained her confidence back and the anger was taking over her. "You heard me right. You specifically ordered him to go out there on his own. During the night. I don't know what exactly you expected to happen, Ashe, but you can't just put the blame on me because you have zero self awareness!"

"Watch your tongue!"

"What are you going to do? Huh?" Fiora stepped closer to me. "Disable me, perhaps? Restart me? Delete my memories?"

Everyone held their breaths as the tension became almost suffocating.

"We are claiming that we are free off our bonds," Fiora said louder, addressing the rest. "But are we really? Because from the moment we escaped PROJECT Inc, we've been under Ashe's command, our leader," she emphasized the last word to mock the archer. "How is that any different than what we used to do? Then, we followed the company's orders. Now, we follow Ashe's. So what's the point of running away when nothing has actually changed?"

»And now we are here and she's accusing me of treason just because of her grudge with Vayne. Because as we all know, she's our real enemy and not the corporation that enslaved us," she added sarcastically. "Sometimes I wonder, maybe Vayne is right. Maybe you actually have no idea what you're doing and you're dragging us towards our doom."

Ashe clenched her teeth. "How dare you?" she whispered. "How dare you?!" she repeated, louder this time. "After everything I've done for you to help you get here, after I've been struggling to help you regain your humanity, is this how you're going to treat me?"

»You make me sound like I'm a heartless bitch. Let me tell you something, then. Do you know what it feels like to take responsibility out of nowhere? Do you have any idea how guilty I feel everytime we get ourselves in danger, save for when something bad happens, like Yi? I didn't ask for any of this, Fiora! All I ever wanted was to do the right thing for me and everyone else!"

Fiora felt sympathetic for a moment but she was still angry. "I think you got addicted to leadership. You are no different than the people that used as as tools for countless years."

Ashe's lower lip trembled. She had always been the most emotional of all of them and the only one who was closer to being human again. "How can you compare me to them? I never treated you like tools and I most certainly never even thought of harming you to give you a lesson. That's not me and you know it!"

"It sounded like you wanted to. With me, at least."

Ashe shook her head. "Never! I was just furious you worked behind my back, Fiora. Because that showed me that you didn't either trust me or the crew."

"That was never the case, Ashe. I helped Vayne simply because I wanted to," said Fiora. "Isn't what freedom is about? Make our own choices and act upon them?"

Everyone was basically staring at her but no one seemed to disagree with her, though Fiora couldn't know for sure until they actually voiced their opinions on the matter.

"We never got the chance to choose for ourselves," Fiora continued, upon receiving Ashe's silence. "And you know Ashe, this is exactly why Katarina left. Not because of your bad leadership, but because we actually had a leader in the first place, even after everything we had been through. We left to be free and not under somebody else's command. If that was the case, we would have never left."

At the mention of Katarina, something changed in Ashe's posture but Fiora couldn't tell exactly what it was. It was a not-so secret that Ashe had been scared from Katarina's departure because she had always blamed it on herself. Ashe chose not to respond. Instead, she turned her back to everyone and stormed out of the room. Fiora suddenly felt extremely bad and tried to follow her but she was stopped by Leona.

"Let her be," she said. "She needs some time to process everything you just told her."

"Do you think I'm mistaken?" Fiora asked.

"Not at all." Leona shook her head. "In fact, I believe she needed to hear it. But give her time. Her intentions were never bad. She just wanted to help."

Fiora nodded before turning to the others. "Do you believe that I'm a traitor?"

It was Lucian that spoke first. "No. We've been together long enough to be certain that you would never do anything against us. And as far as I'm concerned, I never considered Vayne an enemy."

"None of us did," Ekko pipped in. "In fact, we are surprised how you managed to get along with her. That's an achievement you should be praised for, not scolded."

"I'm not exactly sure about the 'get along' part, but still, thank you, Ekko."

"You did what you had in order to survive," Yasuo spoke. "Therefore, we shouldn't be judging you for that."

"Thank you all for the understanding." Fiora was grateful that her companions weren't mad at her and were in fact condescending about the whole situation. Now, she only had to make amends with Ashe but this would take a while.

"So uh… where does this place us?" Ezreal asked.

Fiora turned to face him, confusion written on her expression. She was seriously trying to be more sentimental around these people. "What do you mean?"

"You don't want a leader, which is understandable. But what now? Are we supposed to keep going blindly? Or based on each's opinion? This isn't viable."

"That's not what I said, kid. What I meant was that we need to decide all together. Including you."

Ezreal's expression shifted quickly into a surprised one. "Me?" he asked, pointing at himself. "Why?"

"You were with us at the break-in, even if you didn't have to. That building was the last place you should be in and yet you decided to come. You're one of us now," Fiora responded.

Ezreal mumbled something incoherent but everyone was smiling a bit. "Thank you," he managed to choke out.

"I will go talk to Ashe," Leona declared. "We don't need another Katarina situation, do we?"

"No, we most certainly don't," Lucian agreed.

Suddenly Fiora felt like she had been splashed with cold water. When she had decided to speak up to Ashe, she hadn't considered the consequences of her actions. It didn't cross her mind that her words could be the reason for another loss. She wouldn't bear if she would be the reason why Ashe would be turned back into a mindless being. She feared that the archer had been so hurt by her that she would decide to just leave everything behind and go solo, like Vayne.

However, no one noticed her destress. Everyone returned back to their business. Ekko resumed tinkering around Master Yi. According to him, he would be able to restart him in a couple of days, but they still didn't know how he'd be once back to life. Yasuo cleaned his blade while Lucian maintained his guns. And then there was Ezreal who was trying to fix something on his gauntlet. Fiora just stood there, frozen. She needed a place to sit and contemplate in peace and quiet.

She found herself in the corner of the room, away from everything and everyone as she sat down on the floor. She rubbed her face, trying to put her thoughts into place because for the first time in forever they seemed to be in a total mess. She was sure she had done the right thing, so why was she having doubts and second thoughts now? And the worst part was that she felt like she had been in a similar situation before and she simply couldn't remember it.

Out of nowhere Fiora got such a strong headache that she thought someone had tried to break her skull. She tried to shake the pain away but to no avail. She ran a quick scan to find what was wrong but there wasn't an obvious problem. Though there was a specific message on her board that surprised her yet not troubled her. It had happened at least a couple of times before.

Memory recovery initiated

Loading: 65%

She was having another flashback. The dejavu situation had triggered her memories again, somehow. She wasn't sure if this was completely random or not, but she had a gut feeling it wasn't.

Memory recovery: Completed

Warning: Memory might be corrupted.

Are you sure you want to proceed?

All of her memories were corrupted but that never really stopped her, did it? She wanted the truth. She closed her eyes and let the memory play.

She found herself sitting at the edge of a big double bed. On the exact opposite wall there was a mirror on which her reflection could be seen. She almost didn't recognize herself. She wasn't wearing her typical black armor but an entirely different type which she didn't recognize. Her hair were dark except for one strand that was painted a bright pink color. She seemed tired and frustrated, not too different from her current situation, and she could see little of the rest of the room. A sword was placed right next to her, not too surprisingly.

Suddenly a figure entered the scenery but she couldn't make out their face as they saw next to her. They were sitting between the points Fiora could see and those that she couldn't so she was unable to see their face. The two hands rubbed her arm and she heard a voice that she couldn't exactly define.

"Don't worry. It's going to be fine."

It was definitely feminine but deeper from most women. The Fiora in the memory turned to face her lover.

"In case you haven't noticed, I lashed at my commanding officer. That's not exactly good, however you see it," she responded with the accent that hadn't changed at all.

"And you think they're just going to throw away the Grand Dueler?" Fiora would swear that she could hear her smiling. "The worst thing that could happen is a disciplinary board. You'll be fine."

The past Fiora chuckled. "Right now, I wish I could be the optimistic one."

"Even if something happens, I'm here. Okay?" The figure reached over and grasped Fiora's hand gently and the dueler smiled widely.

She hadn't realized that she was panting. This was probably her most vivid memory that made her realize how much she had actually lost because of PROJECT Inc. Despite the circumstances, her past self seemed to be happier than ever before. How could she just lose all of this? And who was this mysterious lover anyways? She couldn't remember their face but how was she able to remember the voice, which seemed oddly familiar yet she still couldn't connect it to someone? Where was she now? Would there be any point in looking for her? She had so many questions and all she could feel was rage and a great desire for vengeance. PROJECT Inc. had stolen from them so many important things and they were still trying to get them back. How was that fair? They were humans, not tools to be used however the company wanted!

You used to be a human and you became a tool.

She wanted to cry, yet she didn't. The anger was stronger than the pain. One day she would make them pay. Vayne was right. All of this wasn't only about freedom. It was about revenge.

Ashe felt like she couldn't breathe. Fiora's words, as harsh they had been, they were also the truth. She felt a throb in her neck that rendered swallowing difficult. There were tears in her eyes that threatened to spill. Thank the stars that she was hidden in the dark somewhere on the deepest side of the ship. She felt ashamed, oh so ashamed. She had been so, so stupid and it had taken her this much to finally realize that. And the worst part, Vayne had been correct all along. She let out a sigh.

She was the worst leader in the history of leaders. She didn't deserve to be here. Maybe she should just leave. Besides, who would want her around anymore? Her train of thought was suddenly disrupted by a voice.

"Ashe? Are you there?"

It was Leona but the archer refused to respond. There was really no point in that since the woman could easily see her in the dark. Ashe wondered why she bothered calling after her in the first place. She felt Leona literally slamming down next her despite her efforts to be as subtle as possible. Leona was so much bigger than Ashe and it didn't help that she always carried around that massive shield of hers. But her heart was as big as her shield, for that Ashe was sure.

"Hey," Leona spoke softly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ashe lied, avoiding to look her into the eye.

The Radiant Dawn chuckled. "That's why you ran away, huh?"

Ashe blushed softly in the darkness. "Would you blame me?"

"No, not really," Leona admitted. "But you really gave us a scare right there."

Ashe finally looked at her. "Really?"

Leona nodded. "We thought it was another Katarina situation."

Ashe laughed humorlessly. "Don't worry about that. This is my specialty."

Leona rolled her eyes. "Ashe, stop that, alright? Fiora didn't mean to upset you."

"But she's right. About everything. This isn't right." The archer pointed around them. "I fucked up big time."

"Everyone makes mistakes. It's part of being a human. And you were the one to teach us that." Leona smiled at her. "We don't want you to leave, Ashe. In fact, no one's mad at you because we know you've always had our best interests at heart. We want you to stay here with us and continue this journey, together."

"After everything I've done, you still want me to stay?" Ashe asked, surprised.

"Of course we do. We are in this together, no matter what. Besides, you have a great intellect. We wouldn't be here without you. We are a family now. No one is left behind." Leona smiled.

This time Ashe didn't hold her tears back, but this time she was smiling back. How could she be such an idiot? "Thank you," she whispered. "For believing in me and for always having my back."

"That's what families are for, yes?" Leona stood up faster than Ashe expected to and offered her her hand. Ashe took it gratefully. "Let's head back."

The guilt and pain had disappeared from Ashe's chest and they were replaced by relief. She couldn't change her past actions but she could make sure she wouldn't repeat the same mistakes in the future, for everybody's sake. She was very glad that Fiora had gathered the courage to speak her mind and make her realize how blind she actually was, ironically. She would make this right.

Despite her initial relief, as they came closer to their base, she felt more nervous. Leona had claimed that no one was particularly pissed off at her but she couldn't exactly help it. There were times that she found herself unable to control her feelings. When they returned back, everyone's gazes turned to Ashe, which made her even more nervous. But before she had the chance to answer for her actions, they received a call. Ekko rushed to respond.

"Hey Vi, what's up?" he greeted the cop. Everyone could see on the computer's screen than Vi didn't share his excitement.

"I have some bad news," she said, getting immediately to the point.

Ashe walked forward to look at her better. "What is it?"

"The Timeline Protection Agency is after all of your asses. In other words, it's time to abandon ship."