Charlotte went to send the signal that the circle was finished as soon as she could sneak away. Finally, she thought, an end to this nightmare.

Oh it had seemed like a dream at first, she had half thought it was; Griffith was like a hero from a story, so beautiful and good from the very start. She now knew while not a lie, that persona was for her benefit, not his true self. How foolish was she, he loved her crown, not her. She may have even known that at the time and not cared, so starved for something as exciting as a heroic lover. Somewhere in her heart she did still love him, but not the him that still existed. No, that Griffith that she had loved must have died during that year of torture, leaving this cruel, unfeeling version.

That Griffith would've kept up the facade for her sake, and would've loved their children, as they would be his legacy. Now she knew he wouldn't die, he didn't need an heir, and now he didn't need her.

It had taken a long time for her to figure that out. That he no longer cared for anyone else, save perhaps Guts. That he wasn't human anymore. The child of their union was proof enough of that.

That misshapen, grotesque thing. Her baby girl. Charlotte had tears in her eyes just thinking about it. She didn't know if it was actually a girl or not, it being too deformed to tell one way or another, but in her heart she felt it was a girl. Her daughter. Had she been born by any other father she would've been beautiful, but no, it was Griffith.

Her baby had been in so much pain. Charlotte had been in pain too, but the physical pain went away when she saw it. It had been replaced with an emotional wrenching that she thought might break her heart.

The whole pregnancy had been hard, and Charlotte had been nervous. Her own mother had died in childbirth, and while Falconia was being technically advanced in every field including medical that didn't do much to alieve her worries. Her husband had been no help, and Charlotte attributed that to him being a man and simply not understanding. That wasn't unheard of; men often didn't show an interest. But after the birth it became clear what was going on. Oh, she wouldn't forget what he said to her.

They were alone for the first time after her subsequent birth and loss of her baby, a baby that had been born with wings and a tail, and he said to her, "I thought you might die in childbirth, your mother did." Before adding, "Well, there's always next time."

She thought she might've missed the part where he said, 'I was scared you might die.' but no, he didn't. He didn't need her anymore, and as much as people loved her, he was trying to find a way to kill her without anyone suspecting a thing. It made her blood run cold.

Unlike before, when the man who she used to regard as her father betrayed her trust, Charlotte kept it to herself. She kept acting the fool because she knew that was what everyone expected of her, because Griffith was smarter than the previous king, he would know she knew what he was. A monster.

It was a year after the loss of her child that she came in contact with the revolutionaries. She didn't know much about them, and they didn't know much about her, it was better that way. All she knew was they wanted to get rid of the world tree and demons, and that was good enough for her.

So now she was on her toilet and taking out the amulet that she was told would signal that the circle had been made. She wasn't sure how it would actually do such a thing, but she figured it had something to do with magic. All she had to do was speak the code.

"Ester, the circle is finished." She whispered into it.

As far as the Queen could tell nothing had happened. The amulet looked the same as ever, it didn't glow, or get warm, or anything. Well, she did what she was told to do, now all there was to do was wait. She had been promised a sign before the siege started, and with that she would use Governor Luca's evacuation plan to get as many humans out as possible.

She flushed the toilet, not having actually used it, but needing to keep up the cover, and went to go to bed.

She was strangely calm, having possibly just released the instruments of her husband's death.

…

In that good night Guts found himself in the company of the bright spirit that had saved him before.

"You again." He said, angry, "Where were you when I needed you?! I lost control- I-"

Slowly the light melted away from the figure leaving a boy in its place. The moonlight boy.

"You're- What?"

The boy didn't say anything, just smiled and faded away. He felt a calm over himself.

"Guts! Guts-" He heard a calling. So he wasn't dead. "Come over here!" It called.

He realized his eye wasn't open, so he opened it to be met with Schierke and Farnese. Ghosts? He really didn't have time for this.

"Guts can you hear me?" Schierke asked.

He nodded skeptically, already preparing for the moment when these two… apparitions would undoubtedly twist into something horrible.

"Is something wrong with him?" Farnese asked her mentor.

"The memory suppressant, remember?" Schierke reminded her. "Although this is much stronger than I thought. Whatever his mind made up was something he must've already half believed."

"Can you just stop pretending. I already know how this is going to go." Guts said.

"Guts, it's really us." Schierke insisted. "We just need to take your memory block off now so we can continue with the plan."

"Memory block?" What the hell was going on?! "No, there's nothing wrong with my memory."

"What do you think happened?" Farnses asked, seemingly confused. That was cruel.

"I killed all of you." Guts confessed, trying to not let the words sting.

"Well you didn't, just let us-"

"I don't know what's going on but-"

"Guts!" Schierke commanded, "Look behind you."

So he did and was surprised to see a door.

"That's where your memories are locked away, we have the key since we made the lock."

Schierke looked to Farnese who grimaced.

"I'm sorry about this next part." Farnese apologised, walking closer to him.

Without warning she shoved her hand into his chest, pulling out his heart. He didn't even have time to register what she had done before she stuck the hand with the heart through the door. The door rippled and started to dissolve into smoke, the heart gone. Guts looked down to his chest to see it was fine. No hole or anything.

Schierke shrugged when he looked at her, "We're in a dream world."

Farnese looked proud of her work and gestured for him to go through the door.

"Once you go through there this will all make sense." She said. "We can't go because well… it's a bit beyond what we're capable of, but we'll be here once you get back to catch you up."

Guts, thoroughly freaked out, but deciding to roll with the punches because who wouldn't trust a door that's key was your own heart. He didn't acknowledge the supposed Schierke and Farnese, walking past them into the smoke.

His vision was obscured for a moment before he saw a tall figure. It took a moment to realize it was himself.

"Future me." The other him greeted. "I figured the only one to convince me that what I would think happened didn't actually happen was me. Because if I was dropped in the middle of nowhere with no memory of what happened to everyone there's only one option." He took a breath, "That isn't what happened. How can I prove it to you? I can't. But just don't be an idiot."

The other him diapperated into smoke again and Guts walked to where he'd been standing, suddenly he was somewhere else, somewhere familiar.

The Kushan Base! But how did he know about the Kushan Base? He'd never…

"We ran it over and there's only one strategy that we can see working in any capacity."

That was-

"And it falls to you, Guts."

He looked across the table to see Casca. Around him were the others in his party, Rickert, Erica, Silat, and the other Bakiraka.

"So what do I need to do?" Guts found himself asking. He wasn't in control of his body it seemed.

"You'll have to infiltrate Falconia and make some magic circles so the mages can counter the war demons." She bit her lip, "But it's not that easy."

"I was made for stealth." He quipped.

Casca seemed overwhelmed for a moment, and couldn't keep speaking. Schierke took over the explanation.

"We're going to have to wipe your memory if you do go."

"Oh." Guts felt what he had felt at the time; confliction. "So I can't compromise the plan… I would get the memory back once it was over, right?"

"Yes. You should."

Casca still didn't seem happy.

"Then it's fine. What do I need to do?"

Silat took over the briefing. "It's two prong plan, but you must do your part for either to really work. We need to destroy the World Tree to sever the astral plane's connection to ours. That should stop more monstrosities from spawning. We also need to take care of the war demons Rickert informed us about, including Griffith and his generals." He made eye contact. "When you finish the first part, that part will be yours, Schierke's, and Master Daiba, as you stand the greatest chance of actually doing harm. Rickert has created some war machines that will help us, which is where the majority of the force will be. On the tree front will be less fighters, more people dedicated to it's destruction. Farnese and some of our mages will try and fell it. Serpico has insisted to accompany her, and Isido will too."

"Wait, what about me?" Isma asked.

"There's a sewer system that we have mapped out-"

"Okay, I get the picture." Isma wrinkled her nose.

Silat turned to Guts, "The mages will program the spell tonight, and when you wake up in the morning it will begin."

"Wait, he's going tonight?" Isidro asked.

Silat sighed, "Yes, this will take time."

"How much time?"

"Months, possibly years."

Casca tightened her grip on the paper she was holding.

Years? How long has it been… Months for sure, Guts was pretty sure it hadn't been years yet.

His past self had mentally checked out at this point, only really paying attention to Casca, which if anything cemented the idea this was an actual memory not some fabrication. They rest of the meeting passed and Guts caught Casca before she could slip away.

"What's wrong." He asked. "I mean, besides me leaving."

She refused to look at him.

"Hey," He grabbed her upper arm gently, "If you have something to say say it."

After a moment she answered him, "You promised you'd never leave me."

"You made up this plan."

"I know, I just- I don't want to lose you." She looked him in the eye, "If you're gone months you could miss the birth of our child, you don't want that, right?"

"I-" His past self hadn't even thought of that, and it left present Guts in a confusion. If Casca wasn't dead, then had she had their child yet?

"Of course you didn't think about that." Casca face palmed.

"I know this isn't ideal, but you yourself made up this plan. Why did you do this if you wanted me to say no?"

"I didn't want you to say no- I just-" She started tearing up, "You can't leave me alone."

"I won't die." Guts promised, "I won't."

"You can't control that." Casca said, and cursed under her breath.

He pulled her into a hug. No, he couldn't control it, but he would see her again. The rest of the memories were a blur of him receiving directions and then going to sleep. He woke up to see Farnese and Schierke again.

"You remember everything now?" Farnese asked.

"Has Casca had the baby yet?" Guts asked in return, urgently.

Farnese and Schierke shared a smile.

"She has." Farnese told him.

"And they're both okay?"

"Yes."

Well that was a weight off of Guts' back. Wait, he was a father now. Like to a living breathing kid. Okay, he was kind of freaking out now.

Both of the witches could see the conflicted emotion on his face, and when he didn't say anything else Farnese prompted, "Well don't you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Don't care much, I'll find out when I get back." He blinked, "I'm getting back soon, right?"

"Yes, as soon as you can, go to the rendezvous point."

"Wait, there's a problem I'm a bit, restrained at the moment."

"You got captured?!" Schierke exclaimed.

"Maybe, a bit." Guts said, "Don't worry, I haven't tried to escape yet, probably can. See you all soon."

"Good luck, Guts." Farnese said.

"We will be waiting for you." Schierke said.

Guts turned to leave, but remembered one more thing, "And could you tell Casca that, I'm keeping my promises."

"Of course."

He can't tell who answered him because of a rush take him out of the dream world, causing it all to fade to white. He woke up in the cell with a start.

Okay, he thought to himself. Time to get out of here.