About a month and a half had passed since Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia joined up with the Insurrection. As Captain Libra told them beforehand, they had indeed spent the past few weeks learning how to fly their dark Pegasus. The ride would still feel shaky from time to time, but none of them got the feeling that they were going to die while in flight anymore.

Stahl, Sumia, and Olivia watched as Gaius rode around the Pegasus. The thief still couldn't believe that the Pegasus wasn't immediately throwing him off, having heard about tales of Pegasi being less than fond of men. He flew around on the Pegasus for about another minute or so before landing back onto the ground.

He got off from the Pegaus, taking a few deep breaths – he was still trying to get used to their speed.

"Nice job, Gaius." Olivia said, her arms crossed as Gaius walked towards the three. "I still think Stahl, and especially Sumia, ride the Pegasus much better, but you're making progress."

Gaius' eyebrows furrowed. "Thank you…I guess."

"I'll report your progress to Captain Libra." Olivia replied, and she walked away from the three.

Stahl watched Olivia leave for a moment before turning his head back towards Gaius. "I don't think you could be doing much worse than me, to be honest."

Stahl rubbed his neck, and Gaius only chuckled. "Well, Munches…I think it's safe to say that we're both doing a helluva lot better at Pegasus riding than either of us thought we would."

Sumia let out an 'hmm' as she looked down at the ground. "I remember my mother once telling me about how it was rumored that Pegasus didn't like men in the days of old…"

"Well, it's fact that I could go for some cookies right about now." Gaius said as he placed his hand on his stomach. But then, as he walked away – intending to head towards the buffet area – he tripped on a rather large rock and fell face-first onto the ground.

Gaius groaned loudly as he tried to get up – but he was forced to kneel back down, placing his hand on his foot.

Stahl began to approach the redhead. "Here, let me help you." He said, before lifting Gaius up bridal style.

Gaius was in complete bafflement. "Wha-what the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm gonna take you back to the barracks so you can recover." Stahl replied, which did nothing to ease Gaius.

"You remember that we are married men, right?"

Stahl shook his head in frustration. "Yeah, yeah, but this the quickest way to get you to the Barracks."

Gaius let out an 'ugh' in response. "It's unnecessary, I swear. Please put me down."

"Well, come now –"

"Just put him down, Stahl!" Sumia snapped, her tone angry. Stahl sighed and put Gaius back down.

"Erm…sorry, Gaius." Stahl said in an uneasy voice.

Sumia's attention was taken when she Walhart and Gangrel passing by, chatting about something inaudible to the three. Sumia looked at Stahl and Gaius for a moment before departing off, following Gangrel and Walhart. It was Gangrel in particular who had Sumia's attention.

"It's just…I'm not too sure about this, Walhart..." She overheard Gangrel tell the taller man besides him.

"Why are you only now having these second thoughts, Gangrel?" Walhart asked in a coldly irritated voice.

"Well…don't get me wrong, I still fully back the Insurrection, but –"

Walhart interrupted Gangrel before he could finish. "Then why do you object? The Insurrection does only what it must. That is what separates us from the Archanean Empire. The Thorn Queen just wants to satisfy her ego. Captain Libra actually gives a damn about the people, and that is why we will prevail."

Gangrel sighed. "…Yes. Of course. Forgive my doubts."

Walhart kept his eyes narrow. "Captain Libra will be giving the orders shortly. Ready yourself, Gangrel."

Gangrel stopped dead in his tracks while Walhart walked away – which Sumia found convenient as she approached Gangrel closer.

"Gangrel!"

Gangrel turned around and looked at Sumia with a curious look on his face. "What is it, Sumia?"

Sumia cleared her throat. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you for quite a while now."

Gangrel let out an 'hmm' and cupped his chin and interest before Sumia continued on. "When you killed Basilio…when you killed the man who had brought you nothing but misery, and anger, and hatred…how did you feel?"

Gangrel looked at Sumia for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. "Well, truth be told, I felt very proud of myself at the time…" Gangrel then paused for a moment to look down at the ground, frowning as he did so. "But as the weeks have gone by…I don't really fulfilled anymore. I had wanted nothing more than to kill him for 12 years. And now I've done it, and I…I feel a little empty. Hardly a reward."

Sumia had a disappointed look on her face, letting out a sigh of her own. "I see."

But right about then, the confidence in Gangrel's face increased. "But I find comfort in knowing I'm on the right path now. Your friend re-instilled my hope, and now I will fight for the Captain Libra, and for the people. I will help being prosperity to this land. And that, Sumia…that feels fulfilling."

Sumia simply stared at Gangrel, being in deep thought at the moment, before replying, "Thank you, Gangrel. I'm glad we had this talk. I must be on my way now."

Sumia began to walk away, but the murmuring crowds among them began to grow silent, and they both turned around to see Captain Libra marching forward, with Walhart, Olivia, and dozens of other soldiers right behind him. Gangrel looked like he knew what was happening, as he immediately joined the group, but Sumia was left confused.

Captain Libra had his eyes locked onto Sumia. "Where are Stahl and Gaius?" The captain asked as he came closer to Sumia.

"We're right here." Stahl piped in as he and Gaius ran towards the group.

Libra let out an 'hmm'. "Sumia, Stahl, Gaius, I want you two to come along on this mission as well. The Archanean Empire is reaching out to a village south from here in a desperate attempt to gain supplies."

Gaius picked at his shirt. "Yes, Captain. We'll get us some horses."

"Be quick, Gaius. We need to get down to the village as soon as possible."

Stahl and Gaius took a minute to find two extra horses – and when they did, they joined Captain Libra's army as they began to march out of the Longfort and towards this village, with Sumia in the back of the group.

As they approached the village closer, neither Stahl nor Gaius could help but enjoy the change of weather. For the past few weeks, they had been forced to deal with cold air and sometimes unforgiving winds. The much warmer air and kinder breezes made for quite a pleasant change of pace for Stahl and Gaius.

The two could see the village not too far away, and this was another change of pace for the two. They had spent all that time couped up by the Longfort, and now they were heading back in the fray. Deep down, they had hoped to stop fighting after the war with Grima and settle down with Lissa and Maribelle. But they felt good they were at least fighting for a good cause – to help overthrow a brutal empire.

As they got closer and closer to the village, they could see people taking notice of the Insurrection and waving their hands around. As they got even closer, they begin to hear the cheering of the masses.

"It's them! It's really them!"

"It's Captain Libra!"

"Our savior has arrived!"

"Praise be Libra!"

"Look, son…that man will bring prosperity to us all!"

To get this kind of hero's welcome…it made Stahl and Gaius think of what they would've gotten back at Ylisstol. Ylisstol would've seen cheers and celebrations on a much grander scale, but this gave them a small idea of what that would be like.

It felt nice, and Stahl smiled, knowing that he would be helping to defend these people from the cruelty of the Archanean Empire.

Or so he thought.

Just before they could truly enter the earshot of the villagers, Captain Libra turned his attention to the rest of the Insurrection. "Remember what we're here for! Take the firewalker livestock and destroy the crops. Don't leave anything for the Thorn Queen!"

Stahl and Gaius looked at each other, completely and utterly baffled. Did the Captain seriously just give that command?

The other soldiers began charging into the village, but Stahl and Gaius didn't. Their horses looked frozen where they stood – and Sumia took a long and uneasy look at them before heading back into the village.

They watched as some of the soldiers began to take corrupted cattle and sheep away from a farmer, who yelled at them off the top of his lungs while they presumed to be his wife looked to be nears. The firewalker livestock tried to squirm out of the ropes, and certainly had more ferocity and viciousness to them than regular livestock, but it wasn't enough. The Insurrection could deal with them just fine.

Stahl's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

They stared at the village for another minute before Walhart came riding towards them, looking furious. "You two. With me. NOW!"

Stahl and Gaius simply stared at Walhart for a few minutes, and his agitation seemed to intensify. "Did you go deaf?!"

"N-no!" Gaius said in a startled tone.

"Then come with me! Now!"

Walhart rode away, and Stahl and Gaius let out deep breaths before following him. They both wanted so bad to scream at the Insurrection – but they knew that wouldn't do a damn thing. They only thing they could do was watch.

Stahl and Gaius saw the Insurrection destroying cotton and corn and taking more of the livestock, and more soldiers were leaving the village with ropes holding onto the livestock. Then all of a sudden, a woman came running towards the two, and she was shouting very angrily.

"You bastards! You good-for-nothing bastards! We put our lives at risk to show our faith in you, and this is how you repay us?! You think this is prosperity?!"

Stahl was still left completely speechless while Gaius tried to give the lady a response. "L-Look, ma'am, we don't…we don't…"

Walhart came riding back towards them before Gaius could finish, holding his grasp onto some cattle. "Gaius, take these cattle out of the town."

Gaius paused for a moment. "Look, Walhart, I…I…"

"Do it, Gaius! NOW!"

He furiously forced the rope into Gaius' hand. "Damnit, Gaius, how hard is it to obey commands! Now take these cattle, and get your ass out of here!"

He slapped Gaius' horse, and the horse neighed before finding its way out of the village, with Gaius still holding onto the rope that kept the cattle tied up. He thought long and hard about what he was doing. He was not at all perfect when it came to morality, but this…this felt like something else entirely.

He would do morally dubious things for the sake of war – but taking away from innocents like this was beneath him. But he marched along with the cattle in hand – he had to think something up. He couldn't just take the cattle away like this. But he couldn't just let go of them, either. He was trying to think of something – anything.

He briefly thought of waiting until he got a little further away and then letting go of the cattle, and telling his fellow soldiers that he did it on accident, but he almost immediately realized the flaw in that plan: His fellow soldiers, after scolding him, would just snatch up the cattle themselves. Whether by his hand or someone else's, these corrupted bulls and cows would not be returning to the village. Gaius let out a deep sigh at that reality, and just hung his head in shame.

Stahl was still at the village, and the look on his face could only be described as horrified. He looked around, and the realization of what the Insurrection was truly like hit on him like an undying pile of bricks. He was able to tell right away that Captain Libra wasn't exactly as moral as Chrom, what with him taking prisoners and all, but he never thought the Captain was capable of anything like this.

He briefly saw Gangrel destroying some of the crops despite the pleas of the villagers – Stahl couldn't exactly tell, but it looked like he wasn't entirely content with what he was doing. But Gangrel was clearly willing to do it – Stahl couldn't bring himself to do anything. He just walked around. There was so much he wanted to do about this…but he couldn't bring himself. He damned himself for it, but he couldn't even say anything as he looked at the pained looks of the villagers.

Sumia passed by him, roping away goats and sheep, and she and Stahl simply stared at each other for a moment. They didn't say a word, but they didn't need to. They could see the great discomfort in each other. They looked at each other for a few moments before Sumia rode away in sorrow.

Stahl watched as what was left of the crops was destroyed, and what was left of the livestock was taken. He turned his horse back and began riding away with the Insurrection, hanging his head and hating himself at the moment.

Then he saw Olivia riding towards him. "Here, Stahl, hold on to these horses." She said as she gave him the ropes that tied up some of the village's horses.

This alone was enough to crush Stahl further. He still couldn't find anything to say – he just sighed and held his head with his free hand solemnly.

He thought things would finally lighten up once he joined the Insurrection, the group he thought was truly fighting for justice and freedom. But the cold harshness of this world was crumbling down on Stahl worse than ever. And he had no idea what to make of it.