Cherche stood there alongside Vaike, looking down to the ground. The images of the beatdown Queen Cordelia had just given Sumia still flashed through her head. That whole time, she wanted to come to Sumia's aid and attack the Queen – but she couldn't bring herself to. She couldn't bring herself to fight Queen Cordelia, and she damned herself for it. Cherche let out a deep sigh as she contemplated her life more than ever.

She looked back up when she heard the Thorn Queen begin to discuss matters with Validar and Robin, with General Sully and Kellam standing right by them.

"My Queen…" Validar said in a rather uneasy tone, causing the Queen to furrow her eyebrow. "The minds of Sumia's two associates gave us some rather…interesting revelations."

Robin continued. "Their memories revealed an entirely different timeline. A timeline where Prince Marth lived and defeated Medeus. There, his descendants continued to rule in prosperity, adored by the masses."

Queen Cordelia paused for a long time, and Cherche herself tried to let that sink in. The fact that this was an alternate timeline…she was just left with so many questions.

"…Well…I certainly wasn't expecting that," Queen Cordelia said to break the silence.

"Wait a minute," General Sully butted in, looking just as baffled as Cherche was. "Just how the hell did you figure all of that out?"

Validar let out a chuckle. "Medeus developed the arts of dark magic in ways no one could have foreseen during his thousand year reign. There was the magic that drove most of the wildlife mad…but also the magic that tunes us into a form of dimensional awareness. We could sense that the two men were not from this dimension."

Now General Sully was the one furrowing her eyebrows. "…I'll just take your word for it."

"My son and I have studied in his developments for our entire lives. It's one of the few good things he brought to this world, really."

Queen Cordelia stood in silence for a few moments, cupping her chin, before she spoke again. "These two men…what are they like?"

Robin spoke first. "The redhead is named Gaius, and he really is a noble…but only through marriage. He grew up on the streets, his family barely able to provide bread on the table. He became a thief, my Queen, before joining the army of Marth's descendant and helping to save the world from an apocalypse."

After Robin was done, Validar took a moment to clear his throat. "The scarred brunet is named Stahl. He grew up with a family that ran an apothecary, but then he married into Marth's family. From what I gathered, Stahl has a fierce desire to be a hero and help the good people of the land. It was him that orchestrated the revolt that destroyed Basilio and Flavia's plantation."

Queen Cordelia let out another 'hmm'. Cherche was left fascinated – and she was beginning to think about the fact that those two men were from another timeline. She was trying to figure out why, but it was giving her some level of…hope.

"…Fascinating," Queen Cordelia said, looking genuinely interested by all of this. "They're not on track to fixing the timeline, are they?"

Robin couldn't help but let out a small snicker. "My Queen, they don't have a damn clue."

However, his smirk then went away and his face looked more serious. "But I suggest that we keep it that way. It is possible – however unlikely – that they could eventually find a way to restore the timeline and erase the Archanean Empire from history. They must be brainwashed or executed as soon as possible."

"Understood," Queen Cordelia replied, and Cherche's look of uneasiness went away. She faked a small smile.

"Pardon me for interrupting, my Queen," Cherche said, that smile still glued to her face. "But I must use the restroom."

Queen Cordelia looked at her for a moment before sighing. "Make it quick."

With that Cherche walked away. The smile disappeared, replaced by a look of determination. She was tired of feeling resigned to her path – she wanted to make a change, and she had finally been given the spark to do so. What she had planned was a long shot, but Cherche felt she had nothing to lose.

Sumia hung her head in shame as she continued to groan in pain. She looked around at the dark gray walls that surrounded her, Stahl, and Gaius, and she let out a hurt sigh.

"I failed."

Stahl looked at Sumia with concern on his face. "Look, Sumia…"

"Don't say a word, Stahl! I had my chance right there! I could've…I could've killed Cordelia right then and there. I could've avenged my parents. Their deaths….I could've….but damnit, I didn't! I DIDN'T! I FAILED! And the smug tone that bitch gave me as I laid there…next time, I'm gonna need a weapon and -"

"Next time?!" Gaius interrupted with a tone of exasperation. "I don't think there should be a next time!"

Sumia looked at Gaius like he was some kind of idiot. "What the hell do you mean?! All I need is a weapon – a sword or a lance, or even a knife- and then I can finally stab her to death! And there's not a damn thing either of you can do to stop me!"

Gaius looked down to the ground and let out a sigh before turning back to face Sumia. "Look….I don't think you would've done any better with a weapon."

"Why not?! All I would have to do is stab her in the chest multiple times, and that would be that!"

Gaius' expression then became more uneasy – he wasn't going to enjoy this. "But you wouldn't have been focused enough to do that, would you?! I could see it in your eyes, Sumia. The rage. The hatred. The undying desire to watch Cordelia die and enjoy it. I know you already made it clear that's all you're about…and that's not a good thing."

Sumia's anger seem to fade, replaced by confusion. "But…I…I.."

"One can't let their rage get them. They just…they just can't."

Sumia paused for a moment, before looking straight ahead and letting out a deep sigh. "I guess I have to give that to the other me. At least she didn't have to go through any of this."

Gaius let out an 'hmm'. "You know, something we forgot to mention – I don't know how – is that she did hate herself for her faults. She had massive self-esteem issues, and she was always beating herself up over her flaws and her mistakes. But she didn't let it consume her…at least not in the way….Gods…" Gaius grunted in frustration, not really wanting to finish that sentence.

Sumia looked like she got the point, though. "…Well, I thought I made it clear at the campfire that there's nothing else for me in this world. What's the point of turning back now?"

Stahl felt that he could finally add in something now. "Would it do any good to think of the life you and Cordelia lived in the old timeline?"

Sumia turned her head to Stahl and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Well, Gaius is right. The other you did have massive self-esteem issues. But ultimately, you were happy in the other timeline. You loved Cordelia, you loved your children…you felt like you couldn't have asked for a better family. And if we can find the hooded man and figure out how to restore the timeline…you can go back to that life. This world, and all of your pain…it'll go away. You'll have Cordelia and your children back. You'll be happy."

There was a long pause as Sumia just looked straight with a blank expression on her face, before Stahl looked down the ground, seemingly feeling stupid.

"I-I'm sorry, I just –"

"No, no," Sumia piped in before Stahl could finish. "It's fine. I'm just thinking about that right now…"

Before anyone could say anything else, they could hear footsteps – someone was approaching their room. After a few moments, Cherche passed by the room, looking at the three before vanishing as quickly as she appeared. The trio then heard several stabbing sounds and a muffled scream before Cherche came back with three more lances and a knife – using the latter to break off Stahl's chains. He fell down to the ground, and before he could remove the cuffs that remained on his hands, he looked at Cherche with complete confusion.

"What are you doing?" Stahl couldn't help but ask.

"Giving you and your friend the chance to fix all of this," Cherche replied, and she cut off the chains that held up Sumia and Gaius, who were just as baffled as Stahl was."Follow my lead – I'll get you three out of the castle."

Gaius rubbed his neck. "We appreciate this and all, but –"

Cherche knew what Gaius was going to ask and cut him off before he could finish. "It's time I made things right. Now follow me!"

The trio obliged and followed Cherche through the dungeon. They passed through the area where members of the Insurrection were being tortured. The six or so lieutenants all noticed the four and prepared their weapons.

"Kill the traitor and re-capture the prisoners," the eldest-looking generals commanded. "For the Archanean Empire!"

The lieutenants and soldiers all let out war cries as they charged towards the four, but Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia were all armed now. The elder lieutenant charged towards Cherche along with two of the soldiers, but he was not able to get in any hits before Cherche stabbed her to death, a fate she brought upon the two others immediately afterwards.

Two of the lieutenants charged towards Gaius, and he barely avoided getting decapitated by one. He stabbed that lieutenant to death, but got pinned down by the other one. The lieutenant aimed his sword, ready to impale Gaius, but the thief kicked him off before he could do so and stabbed him to death.

Stahl and Sumia took care of the rest of the lieutenants, breathing heavily after they were all slain. Cherche ran straight ahead, wordlessly signaling for the other three to do the same.

"I must ask," Sumia said to Cherche, curiosity on her face. "What made you decide to betray Queen Cordelia?"

"I'm tired of forcing myself down a fate I don't desire," Cherche responded as they approached the stairs.

Sumia let out a sigh. "…Right…"

"And Queen Cordelia is a wretched sociopath," Cherche added on.

"You don't have to tell me that…"

They spent a little while going up the flight of stairs, which still felt endless to Cherche. Once they got up the stairs and into the library, Cherche signaled for the other three to keep quiet. As they silently snuck through the library, two soldiers passed by the library – and noticed the three prisoners by Cherche. Gaius and Stahl both grabbed them and pulled them into the library, snapping both of their necks.

After that was done with, Cherche peaked her head to make sure there were no more soldiers coming their way – and to her luck, there were none at the moment. But she was sure that wouldn't last long, so she immediately turned her attention to Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia.

"Ok, here's the deal," Cherche whispered, motioning for the others to come closer. "The horses are all in heavily guarded areas, so they aren't an option. But there's another way you three can escape – we have to keep going west, though. Just follow my lead."

She peaked her head again – and this time, she saw Vaike storming through the halls, with a dozen or so soldiers following him.

"There you are, Cherche!" he yelled loudly, and Cherche's eyes widened in panic. "We need to talk! Now!"

Cherche looked worried for another moment, but worry was soon replaced with determination. She looked at Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia, and nodded them – to let them know that another battle was nearing.

A soldier ran into the library, only to get impaled to death by Sumia. The other soldiers then charged their way towards the four – and Stahl in particular tightened his grip on his lance as he slashed through one of the soldiers while barely avoiding getting impaled to death by another.

Sumia found herself surrounded by three of the soldiers – she immediately impaled one of them with ease, but then the other two began swinging around their lances at her, and she was forced to kneel to the ground. She stabbed one of the soldiers in the legs and then finished her off by impaling him in the chest. The other soldier used this as an opportunity and almost impaled Sumia from behind, but Cherche slashed through him before he could do so.

Stahl and Gaius were tag teaming, working together to slay all the soldiers that came after them. One of them almost stabbed Stahl right in the face, but Gaius slashed through him before this could happen. Then one of the soldiers almost impaled Gaius right in the chest, but Stahl impaled him before that could happen.

As the three prisoners battled through the remaining soldiers, Cherche's attention was now on Vaike, who gave her a death glare.

"How could you, Valentian?! How could you betray the glorious Archanean Empire?!"

Cherche grunted in exasperation. "Glory? Where is this glory, Vaike? We're on the wrong side of this war – and I won't stand for it any longer!"

Vaike gritted his teeth and pulled out his spell book. "Your betrayal will be repaid in kind, you Valentian scumbag!"

He briefly flipped through his spell book before he began to shoot out purple fire from his hands. Cherche was able to dodge each of the blasts – but she also couldn't get anywhere near Vaike. She tried to charge towards him, but he blasted out more fire, forcing her to focus on dodging that.

Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia managed to finish off the remainder of the soldiers, and they saw Vaike fighting Cherche. The knight tripped onto the ground and fell, and Vaike had a cold but smug face as he got ready to blast more fire towards her. But his attention was taken by Gaius charging towards him. Gaius got ready to impale Vaike, but the mage punched him away out of natural instinct while Stahl and Sumia helped Cherche up.

Gaius stabbed Vaike's spell book and threw it against the wall. Vaike responding by decking Gaius three more times and then he looked down before getting ready to the thief – but Gaius wasn't going through this again, so he stabbed Vaike right in the leg with his lance, causing Vaike to yell out in pain.

After he yelled, Vaike began to breathe heavily. "I don't care what the old timeline was like. You won't be undoing the majesty of the Archaenan Empire!"

Cherche gritted her teeth and charged towards Vaike, impaling him in the chest. Blood coming flowing from his mouth, and he was breathing even heavier as he narrowed his eyes and locked them onto Cherche's.

"You…you think you can win? Y-you underestimate our Empire…"

It looked like Vaike meant to continue on, but he couldn't. His breathing ceased, and his head dropped down to the ground, his lifeless eyes staring at the wall.

Cherche looked at his corpse for a moment, before turning to the other three and saying "This way. Thankfully we're not too far."

Cherche walked away, and Sumia immediately followed after. Stahl and Gaius took a few moments to stare at Vaike's body – much like with Lon'qu, it felt weird and jarring to see a comrade lay dead like this. But they couldn't stare for too long – they had urgent matters at hand.

They darted to catch up with Cherche and Sumia, and the latter was beginning to look puzzled. "I remember this part of the castle," Sumia said, her tone confused and unsure. "This is where the royal family keeps many of their animals."

Stahl and Gaius could hear the roaring the lions as Sumia said that – and she only sounded more confused. "Why are we coming here, though?"

"You're about to find out." Cherche answered. And right as she said that, she opened one of the doors, revealing a room with five stalls – four of them containing regular Pegasi, and the last one containing a black-skinned Pegasus that the dark fliers rode on back in Stahl and Gaius' world. And at the end of the room was a balcony overlooking the evening sky.

"Here we are – the last Pegasi left on the continent."

All four of them walked into the room, and Stahl's eyes widened when he realized what Cherche had been plan. "You…you want us to ride a Pegasus out of here?"

Cherche looked at Stahl and nodded. "The dark one, to be exact. It should be big enough to carry all three of you out of here."

Gaius grunted in bafflement. "There's just one problem: We have no clue how to ride a Pegasus. Hell, no man ever rode a Pegasus where my friend and I come from. I swear, this is not a good idea!"

Cherche looked at Gaius and sighed as she released the dark Pegasus from its stall. "I understand how risky this is. But if you just run, Queen Cordelia's forces will capture you before you know it. I'm sorry. This is your only chance out of here."

Footsteps could be heard from the hallway, and Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia all looked at each other before they realized that Cherche was right. This was the only way they'd have any chance of escaping the castle. All three of them got onto the Pegasus – but then Stahl looked at Cherche, confusion still on his face.

"Wait – what about you?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Cherche looked up at the three and let out another sigh. "I never planned on making it out of here alive. As I said, I'm going to make things right. Now get!" Cherche slapped the Pegasus' rear, and it neighed before running towards the balcony.

Queen Cordelia, General Sully, and Kellam arrived just as the Pegasus flew out of the room, taking Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia with it.

Cherche focused her attention on the Thorn Queen, who shot an unsettling death glare towards the knight as she began to approach her.

"Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you for this?!" Queen Cordelia shouted in an angry voice, forming a fist with her hand.

But Cherche wasn't scared of the Queen. Not anymore. Instead, she just shot a glare at Queen Cordelia. "Accept reality, Cordelia. Whether it's at their hands, or by Captain Libra's, your empire will burn. And you will burn with it."

Cherche then tightened the grip on her lance and charged towards Queen Cordelia. But she didn't expect to actually strike the Queen – she just wanted to go out swinging. And just as she predicted, Queen Cordelia got out her spell book and shot a purple energy blast towards the knight.

Cherche was forced down to the ground, yelling in agony. Queen Cordelia grabbed Cherche by her air and slammed her head down to the ground a few times, before forcing the knight back up, where she decked her in the face a few times.

Cherche grabbed her lance and slashed at the Queen – Kellam and General Sully both charged towards them, but the Thorn Queen motioned for them to halt. Cherche was pleasantly surprised to see that she made the Queen bleed, but she knew this wouldn't last for much longer.

Queen Cordelia looked at Cherche with pure hatred, and with her spell book, she summoned up three entities with snake-like bodies, all of which charged towards Cherche. She screamed in agony as the entities began to ruthlessly bite and gnaw through her and her armor. But it wasn't long before she stopped screaming – and almost immediately afterwards, she stopped breathing.

Queen Cordelia shot a glare towards the traitorous knight's body, before looking up into the sky from where her prisoners had escaped.

Riding on the Dark Pegasus was going a lot smoother than Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia all expected, but it was clear that the equine was not entirely comfortable around them, and the three constantly felt shaky and on the verge of death. They were far enough from the castle now, and they were trying to get the Dark Pegasus to stop – which was proving to be quite the hassle.

Eventually, they saw a blonde woman on a horse looking up at them – and motioning for them to come down. The woman looked oddly familiar to Stahl and Gaius, but she was too far away to tell.

They still struggled to get the Pegasus to come down – but finally, it obliged, and they made a less-than-ideal landing. But they were all glad to have made it out alive. Stahl and Gaius got off the Dark Pegasus and walked towards the woman – who they could now recognize as Pheros, a woman they had to battle while taking on Walhart's forces in Valm.

"That Pegasus…" Pheros stated, in a completely baffled voice. "Where do you come from?!"

Stahl sheepishly rubbed his neck. "It's quite the story."

And then he, Gaius, and Sumia all saw that she bore the logo of the Insurrection.

"Did you have anywhere in mind to fly to?" She asked in a curious voice, with the trio all knowing where this was going.

"Not really," Gaius said as he cupped his chin. "Although I couldn't help but notice that you bear the insignia of the Insurrection. We've been trying to reach Captain Libra himself."

Pheros couldn't help but let out a smile. "That is splendid! I am actually a spy for the great Captain Libra, and I am heading to his base right now. I can take you there – he'd be honored to meet you."

Stahl and Gaius looked at each other first, and then at Sumia, who nodded to them. Stahl and Gaius turned their heads back to Pheros. "It would be our pleasure, milday." Gaius said, not wanting her to know that they knew who she was.

"Great! Follow me!" Pheros replied. Stahl and Gaius got back onto the Pegasus with Sumia and followed the spy. And the three began to prepare themselves. They were trying to let it sink in that they were finally on track towards the Insurrection – and that they would soon meet Captain Libra himself.