Life went on as usual when Captain Libra and the Insurrection made their return to the Longfort – which bothered Gaius. He couldn't get over what happened at the village. He saw Olivia pass by, and they exchanged passing glances before she walked into the building where he and Stahl had first met Captain Libra. He saw soldiers laughing and drinking, and talking about the wonders that they would bring once they came to power.

Gaius couldn't believe a word they said. Not anymore.

As he watched everyone from a quiet corner, he began to think of Stahl. He hadn't really seen Stahl around since they got back from the village – and he saw this as reason to worry. He began to search around the Longfort for the prince – first, he checked the buffet area, and was surprised to not see him there. He looked around for a few minutes, but there was no sign of Stahl.

Until he checked a little, quiet corner, and there he saw Stahl, just resting up against the mountainous walls that helped border and guard the Longfort.

Stahl had a devastated look on his face – it made Gaius think of the crushed and broken expression that was glued to Chrom's face after Emmeryn had committed suicide. Concerned, Gaius began to approach Stahl.

"Hey, Munches." Gaius said, and Stahl just sat there for a moment before noticing Gaius.

"Oh, hey." Stahl replied in a solemn voice.

Gaius let out an 'erm', unsure of what to say, before replying back "I think the buffet area just got stacked back up, if you wanna –"

"I'm not that hungry. Rather not eat, right now." Stahl interrupted, before looking down at the ground.

Now Gaius was truly worried.

"Munches, look..."

Stahl got up and motioned around with his hands. "Just think about it, Gaius. We've seen how brutal Cordelia is here. We've seen how she condones slavery and burns villages to the ground for opposing her. So to think that Libra would actually be a good man…"

He placed his hands on his head for a moment as he breathed heavily. Gaius raised his finger, about to say something, before Gaius continued on. "I feel like a damn fool. But it's just….we've seen how horrible she is, and the slavers, and Henry….was it so wrong for me to wish that maybe Captain Libra would've been half-decent?"

Gaius let out a deep sigh. "I get how you feel…."

Stahl began pacing around, uttering grunts and gibberish – he was trying to find the proper words, but he just couldn't. And that was all too clear to Gaius. He tried to approach Stahl closer, but his friend looked so frantic and upset.

After about a minute of pacing, Stahl finally got himself calmed down and let out another heavy breath.

"Did you get a good look at the villagers? I'll never forget them. They looked so…betrayed and broken. Imagine your idol comes into your life, and then they wholly screw you over! They had to have known what Cordelia does to Insurrection sympathizers, but they still showed their faith in Libra. And he just goes and ruins their entire lives!"

He held out his hand, and his eyes were widened as Gaius could only stare at him. "Olivia made me carry some horses away from the village. I felt so horrible about myself. I felt bad enough just watching Libra and his soldiers basically lay waste to that village, but when Olivia put the rope in my hand…I could hardly take it. Yeah, sure, that's just a little thing, but it's more than I can take!"

Now Gaius was able to approach Stahl. "I get how you feel, man. I really…really do."

Stahl let out a few more heavy breaths before replying, "I want it all back, man. I want everything that life took away from us, for no reason. I want the Cordelia and Sumia who loved each and didn't want to kill or brutalize each other. I Kellam, and Donnel, and Sully as my friends and not people who want to kill me. I want Lucina, and Chrom, and my son…I want to see Owain, Gaius. And Lissa. I just want her in my arms again. I just…I…I…"

Stahl couldn't figure out a way to finish his sentence, so he just kicked at the ground in frustration while Gaius noticed Sumia walking up to them. It took a few seconds for Stahl to notice Sumia, and he just stared at her for about a second before he sat back down by the wall.

"I just want to say…" Sumia said as she approached the two. She ran her hand through her hair before adding on "I honestly didn't know that the Insurrection pillaged like that. I've never heard anything about it, and people talk about the Insurrection a lot. They probably just don't do it that often…" Sumia looked at her boots with a frown on her face before looking back at Stahl and Gaius. "And I….I really don't know how to feel about it, either."

Gaius looked at Stahl, who just stared blankly in a seemingly random direction, before approaching Sumia. "You're disappointed by Libra, aren't you?"

Sumia let out a deep sigh before looking at Gaius. "I've never considered myself goody or morally pure. I've certainly never been as wholesome as the other me apparently was. But I hoped for Captain Libra to be better. Him and the Insurrection – I hoped for them all to be better than me. But now I see that they're not. So yeah, Gaius. I am disappointed."

Both Stahl and Sumia were really getting Gaius – he himself did not approve of what had happened at the village, but he couldn't bring himself to spill his beans like Stahl had just done. "We're gonna figure something out." Gaius said to Sumia before turning his attention back to Stahl.

"Look, Munches…I completely understand how you feel. This world…it's just horrible and unforgiving. Even if my final moments with Maribelle were heated, there's nothing I want more than to see her and Brady just one more time." There was a pause as Gaius got to thinking for a moment before he added on, "I think the best thing for us is to –"

"Stahl, Gaius, Sumia." Captain Libra suddenly commanded from behind, and the three turned around to see him with Walhart and Olivia at his side.

Gaius felt irritated at the sight of the Captain, and he could tell that Stahl and Sumia felt the same way, though they tried their best to hide it. Gaius looked at the two for a moment before looking at Captain Libra.

"What is it, Captain?" Gaius said, trying to pretend he was still loyal to the man who stood before him.

"We have been finalizing our plans for our siege and takeover of Millennium Court. Sumia, we have decided that you will be our Pegasus Knight, going by Olivia's praise towards your capabilities. Stahl, Gaius, I want you both to join my squadron alongside Olivia. Together, we will both storm the royal castle and slaughter the Thorn Queen and any soldiers in the vicinity, and we will finally rule over Archanea."

Gaius paused for a moment before sneering. "Yeah, I'm not so sure we're down for that."

Walhart and Olivia looked at each other while the Captain furrowed his eyebrow in anger. "Excuse me?!"

"Look, Libra, none of us here really agree with what you did at the village."

Captain Libra's face began to grow a little red – the anger on his face was all too. "Do tell me, Gaius, what the hell any of you have a problem with?"

Gaius didn't care that everyone here was loyal to Captain Libra – he wasn't going to back down for him. Especially not now.

"You took everything that village needed to survive. You destroyed their crops, seized their livestock…none of that was right."

Captain Libra sneered and scoffed, clearly getting more irritated with the thief. "That's what you're angry about? You are more naïve that I thought you all were."

Gaius' own face began to redden as he approached the Captain closer. "Oh no, you've read me wrong. I'm many things, but naïve ain't one of them. And don't go thing I'm all squeaky clean, either. I'm a thief, and one who's not above spying or assassination. Morally questionable deeds are not beneath me. But you know what? When I did all of that, I didn't leave an entire community of people to rot. It's one thing to spy on the enemy or assassinate a prominent figure, but raiding an entire village and leaving its people with nothing? That's something else entirely."

There was a pause as it looked like Captain Libra took a moment to collect himself. He let out a sigh of irritation and exasperation before looking back at Gaius, his face still red. "First of all, if you're really into spying or assassination, we would've heard of you."

Gaius couldn't help but let out a smirk. "Why do you think I'm that good? A well-known spy is not doing his job right."

Captain Libra looked at Gaius like he was stupid for a moment before replying back, "And second of all, we don't just intend to leave that village to suffer and die out. When we seize control of Archanea, and that day will come pretty soon, we'll come back to them and help them with their problems!"

"The problems you created!" Stahl suddenly piped in, standing back up and approaching Captain Libra with an uncharacteristic death glare on his face. "You were the one who rid them of their livestock and crops. And you can't even try to pin it on the Archanean Empire in any way, because the villagers all saw you. By showing up, Libra, you let them know who to really blame!"

Walhart in turn approached Stahl, and his gigantic stature helped make him look daunting and imposing. "We at least left them with the chance to get better. To get stronger. The Archeanean Empire would've burned the entire village down and slaughtered everyone."

Walhart might've been imposing, but he wasn't intimidating Stahl. "You left them with no way to live on, Walhart. That's not much better than killing them."

To that, Walhart scoffed and let out a small laugh. "You are but a naïve fool. Yes, we're not perfect, but don't even think about comparing us to the Thorn Queen. At least we'll abolish slavery. I know you wouldn't understand the plights and the hell that us slaves had to go through, but I'll never be able to forget."

Now it looked like Sumia's turn to step in, and she specifically approached Walhart, standing by Stahl's side. "Neither can I. I was a slave too, you know. And to the Thorn Queen herself. So let me say this: Your mission to abolish slavery is admirable, but it doesn't excuse your methods."

Captain Libra simply glared at the three for a minute. "So I see you've all decided to leave, then."

Sumia took a look at Stahl and Gaius before looking back at the Captain and narrowing his eyes. "Yes, Libra. All three of us will be leaving."

"We'll be taking the Pegasus with us." Gaius said, pointing towards Captain Libra. "Don't even try to debate or argue with us on that. That Pegasus is ours now. It's coming with us."

Captain Libra began approach Gaius aggressively before Olivia placed her hand on his shoulder and got him to halt. "It's no use, Captain. No one else is trained to ride the Pegasus."

Captain Libra looked at Olivia for a moment, and then glared at Gaius for about a minute before walking away. Walhart and Olivia looked at Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia for a few moments before following Captain Libra.

With those three gone, Sumia let out a deep breath. "Man, you two have really rubbed off on me…"

Stahl let out a smile to that before he, Gaius, and Sumia all walked away, towards their Pegasus.

There was a brief moment of silence before Sumia asked "So I assume we're gonna finally find that hooded man?"

"Yep." Gaius replied back in a somewhat frustrated tone. "Now that we're done wasting our time with this war, we'll try to finally get some damn clues about this hooded bastard."

Stahl rubbed his neck. "It's been so long and we still haven't heard anything about him….I really hope we can finally catch a break…"

Neither Gaius nor Sumia replied to that, and the three kept walking as they neared their Pegasus. Even during their time with the Insurrection, they had still tried to see if they could find anything on the hooded man – to no avail. But now that they were done with the war, this would be their only priority.

But then the soldiers by the gates began to panic or ready themselves for combat, and now the three were confused, until Pheros began running around. "The Archanean Empire is here! Prepare yourselves! The Archanean Empire is here!"

All of their eyes widened.

"It's General Sully! Alert the Captain and prepare yourselves! The Archanean Empire has found us!"

Then the gate that guarded the Longfort came crashing down, and General Sully, Kellam, and scores of soldiers came charging into the Longfort. And as some of soldiers dashed towards Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia, they knew they would have to fight with the Insurrection one more time.