[Author's Note: If you weren't able to tell by the title, this is going to get pretty off-the-rails. If you're expecting something super serious that religiously adheres to the lore, now's your chance to turn back.]

[Prologue]

Velvet's eyes slowly opened, her head throbbed, her body felt sluggish and heavy, her vision was blurry and out of focus, like it had been quite some time since she last opened her eyes, let alone moved. It was immediately clear to her that something wasn't right, even in her confused state. After blankly staring at the metal wall in front of her for what felt like several minutes, she slowly began to overcome her disorientation. Where was she? How did she get here? These were the first questions that came to her mind, the memories of the events at the Empryean's Throne slowly began to return. Artorius had been slain by her hand, and she had sealed herself away with Innominat to prevent the impending catastrophe, to save Phi and the other Therions, but then how did she get here? Innominat was gone, and even though her surroundings were unfamiliar to her, there was no mistaking she was back among the world of humans...or a world of humans. She could see that she was inside some kind of metal carriage and she could feel that the container was moving, really moving, faster than any carriage she had ever rode in, but apart from that the inside was nearly pitch black, and the light shining through the open end was blinding. "Where am I? Where's Innominat?" she quietly mumbled to herself.

After a short while, Velvet gathered the strength to sit up from the metal seat she had been slumped over in, as she slowly gathered the strength to move her arms, she could feel the tension of something between them, it was then she noticed that her hands had been bound. How did this happen? Did the Abbey somehow manage to capture her? After slowly sitting up, Velvet realized something else, she was shivering, the air inside the container was cold, incredibly cold, between the freezing air and the blinding reflection of the sun shining into the carriage, it was clear to her that wherever she was, it was snowy. But how was the cold affecting her? Extreme temperatures weren't supposed to bother her anymore, it was one of the perks of being a Daemon, and yet this was the coldest she felt ever since that day 3 years ago. None of this was making sense to her, and she felt too weak and disoriented to try to make sense of it. The thought crossed her mind to try and escape, but she had no idea where she was, and in her current condition she could barely even move. Her limbs felt stiff and heavy, and she couldn't even get herself to stand up. She was ultimately left with no choice but to wait it out, either until the carriage reached its destination or her strength returned to her.

The carriage came to a halt, and almost immediately afterwards the cargo door swung open. Two masked men in uniforms she couldn't recognize pulled her out just as quickly, and began dragging her limp body across some kind of stone bridge, towards what looked like a large castle. Velvet, still weak and on the brink of consciousness, could give no meaningful resistance, and fell unconscious as the men dragged her to the entrance. Velvet blinked in and out of consciousness over the next several minutes and was only able to briefly see where she was, some kind of walkaway, an elevator, some kind of hallway, the sounds of cheering and a repeated thundering noise that was almost physically painful to hear, she couldn't recognize any of the architecture, the lighting looked strange and oddly oppressive, whatever this place was it was completely foreign to her, almost alien. The last thing Velvet remembered of the journey was being unbound and quickly tossed into some kind of cell, the door slamming shut behind her before she lost consciousness again.

Velvet came to her senses once again, she had no idea how long she had been out for, but this time she felt revitalized to an extent, she felt like she could properly move again, her throbbing headache had subsided, and the task of sitting up didn't feel quite as laborious. Velvet managed to slowly work her way up to her feet, albeit she still had to balance herself against the wall of her cell so she didn't fall back over, her legs still felt like jelly, though she could feel her strength slowly returning. As Velvet's grogginess slowly began to subside, she took the opportunity to take in her surroundings. Obviously she was in some kind of cell, with stone walls and a single sturdy looking metal door. This wouldn't be a problem for her though, this was nothing compared to her old cell, and they had made a mistake locking her in such a conventional one. Her Therionized arm could easily take this door off its hinges, she just needed to wait for the right moment and to figure out where she was, and getting out would be a breeze compared to Titania.

Velvet's train of thought was interrupted by a loud crack that echoed throughout the area outside, followed by several more in rapid succession. Velvet involuntarily clasped her ear that had been facing the door and grimaced, she had never heard something so loud in such rapid succession before, the closest thing were the cannons on the Van Eltia. Cheers resounded throughout the whole block and some kind of buzzer sounded. Velvet, curious about what was going on, slowly pushed herself off the wall and begin slowly walking to the small window on the door to peek outside. Prisoners were gathered outside, looking down into some kind of pit, she couldn't see what was going on inside, but it was clear to her that whatever was going on inside of it was the source of the commotion. A couple moments later, a couple men wearing masks and uniforms identical to the ones that dragged her inside stepped into view and called the names of 2 more prisoners, the prisoners stepped forward and both were escorted to opposite walkways overlooking the pit, and shoved inside. A buzzer sounded shortly after, and the spectating prisoners grew silent.

Velvet retreated away from the door and sat down on the rusted metal frame of what was supposed to be a bed. It was clear some kind of fights were being orchestrated, and the prison was in on it, maybe even built for it, was this some kind of arena? Velvet's thoughts were interrupted again by that noise, rapid thundering cracks that pierced her ears. Velvet grumbled, aside from the obvious conundrum of being locked up, it was clear that noise was going to drive her nuts. At least her Solitary Cell was quiet, but that didn't mean being reminded of the time she spent there was any less upsetting for her. Those days were a hellish nightmare she would do anything to forget, and she once resolved to herself that she would rather die than let herself be locked up like that ever again. "That's it. I've had enough." Velvet silently resolved to herself, the guards hadn't bothered to confiscate her gauntlet, maybe they didn't know of the blade she kept concealed in it, it would have been a fatal mistake to them if she didn't instantly remember that Artorious had broken it during their final battle. Velvet sighed in frustration, but it didn't truly matter, she didn't need to rely on a weapon when she was one herself. Her plan was simple, she'd knock her cell door off the hinges, and if the sight of her wasn't enough to scare the prisoners gathered outside into revealing where she was, she'd just devour them one by one until one of them talked. Velvet had silently hoped that her days of doing this sort of thing would be gone with Artorious, but she was not going to die locked up in some cell like an animal. Velvet stood up, and channeled her mind into summoning her left arm's therionized form...

But nothing happened. It wasn't like she didn't have enough strength, or focus, but it was as if she straight up forgot how. She almost felt foolish trying it, awkwardly straining her mind trying to summon it, but nothing was happening. It was then that something occurred to her, that cold she felt on the way in...Could it be? But how would that be possible? Velvet stared intently at the frayed bandages that were supposed to be hiding her left arm's monstrous, disfigured form for what felt like hours. Eventually, she slowly moved her right arm to the end of the bandage, and her heart raced as she began to unravel it. As she did, she saw that the skin under it was human, not the diseased black she was used to seeing, but normal, healthy human skin. Her heart continued to race as she quickly unraveled the rest of the bandages and freed her left arm from their binding. There was no mistaking it, her arm was human again. Velvet continued to stare at it in disbelief for what felt like ages. "Human...But how?..."

Velvet felt a mixture of relief and panic. Deep down in her heart, Velvet wanted things to be back the way they were, she hated what she had become, hated what she had to do to get to Artorious, hated herself for doing it anyways, anywhere else this would have been a chance to start over, to try to make things right, to be able to care for the people she loved without worrying about hurting them, but right now, this meant that she was trapped. Escaping would not be anywhere near as easy as she hoped it would be. "Fine...I'll escape without it. I don't need it anymore." Velvet resolved to herself, hoping to make herself believe it.