The jail cell he was in was actually pretty easy to get out of. He had healed faster than what they thought he would, and left the key to his cell in the room. It wasn't in arm's reach, but it was in reach of a bandage tied around a rock. It took a few tries, but he finally dragged the key from the table to the floor, and then into reach. A couple times, the key got stuck on a crack in the tiled ground, but eventually it was in his possession. Why the key was left in the same room as a prisoner, Guts had no idea. Maybe they were just dumb.
The door creaked open a sliver, someone looking inside. He froze, ready to strike the moment who ever it was saw him- but the door opened and closed quickly.
"Guts?" It was a woman's voice, familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. "Are you here?"
Guts said nothing. It was dark in the room, both of them in shadow. She finally saw him and jumped. "You- you got out! But I wasn't- did someone else already help you?"
"Are you going to be a problem?" He asked.
"I was going to help you escape, and I think I still can." She stepped into the shaft of moonlight from the window, and before him stood Queen Charlotte. "I know a way that will get you out of here."
"You… want to help me?" Guts asked.
"Yes." She said, "We have to get a move on, you want your armor right?"
"Why?" Guts was having a hard time understanding all of this.
She realized the reason for his reluctance, "I'm helping you because I want Griffith dead as much as you do."
He nodded. She certainly had changed since he last saw her, not counting the dinner. But if she wanted Griffith dead than they were obviously on the same side.
They left the room, hurrying down the halls, Charlotte leading the way to where his armor was. In their hurry they almost ran into a squadron of guards, luckily they were human so they didn't notice Guts' brand, and Guts had pulled Charlotte back around the corner. The guards passed without sounding an alarm, so Guts figured they were still in the clear.
They got to a locked room and Guts looked to the Queen. She pulled out a key and unlocked it, and the two quickly entered, shutting and locking it behind them.
"I had the armor brought here specifically, this armory is connected to the sewer system." Charlotte explained. "That's how you'll get out."
"Thanks." Guts said, already starting the rather arduous task of armoring up. After a few moments of silence, save the muted clank of metal, Guts' curiosity piqued. "I don't really care," He started, "But what… changed your mind?"
"About Griffith?" Her large eyes grew tired, "I'm sure you can imagine."
"He didn't… hurt you, did he?" Guts could imagine a lot, and he couldn't help but hope Griffith didn't do to Charlotte what he did to Casca.
It took a moment for her to grasp his meaning, but eventually Charlotte said, "Not physically. He just- He never loved me, did he?" She was growing more emotional, and Guts was finding he maybe didn't actually care to know. "If anybody would know it would be you."
"I don't know about that, I've been told I'm rather dense about that kind of stuff." When his light response was just met with an imploring stare, Guts sighed, "I don't know, most of what went through his mind was a mystery to me. My best guess was he didn't hate you like he hated some of the others, and as you probably know, really wanted a kingdom."
She seemed satisfied with his answer.
"I was nervous tonight, that you wouldn't be well enough to travel. Griffith came later than normal, but sooner than I expected him to. He said you had collapsed from strain, and I told him it was no doubt if the brand was half as wicked as Sonia had said it was." She giggled quietly, "Then I asked why he even needed to question you, because it was obvious you just wanted revenge. He told me that he needed to know if you were working with someone, but agreed your motives were what they seemed to be." Her grin grew, "I felt so wicked, a traitor right in front of him and he had no idea."
"He was always rather arrogant when he thought he had you under his thumb." Guts muttered, finishing the last strap of his throwing knives. Already the cursed armor was taking away his pain, a much needed reprieve. "Be careful."
"I try to be."
"So you know what he is."
"A demon, right? Or something like one."
"Something like one, yeah." Guts threw on his cloak, and finally reached for the Dragon Slayer. It felt right to be back in his grip, suddenly everything seemed a little more manageable.
"I need to lock the passage behind you," Charlotte explained, pulling out another key, and pulling back the carpet to reveal the seams of a trap door. She unlocked it and then tried to pull it up.
Guts pushed her aside and lifted the door.
"Follow this South and you should get to the rendezvous point." The Queen pointed South. Guts nodded and preparing to jump down, but she placed a hand on his arm. "Thank you." She said, "And God Speed."
He smiled this time before descending into the darkness below. He landed in who knows what, and with the thud of the door above him, Guts set off on his way.
He couldn't really see, but the path was straight enough that he was fairly sure he wouldn't be getting lost. For once he was almost grateful he was losing his senses, since being down there with a fully capable nose did not sound like a great time. As it was, it wasn't a party.
After a while, Guts found his thoughts wandering to the others, and to Casca, and then to their child. He was still freaking out about that. He hoped everyone was doing all right.
After walking across what must've been most of the city, only the occasional rat and added waste to the sewage causing disturbances besides himself. The rendezvous point was portal of some sort that he had subconsciously made when he first entered the city. Man, he really should've figured out that something was up when he kept making all of those magic runes.
Finally he made it to the portal and prepared for it to jump to life or something. It didn't.
Sh*t, there was a magic word or something, wasn't there? Guts racked his brain for the code word, it was something like, OG Band of of the Hawk Rep. or maybe-
"A hanging tree." He said aloud. He remembered now, when asked what the words should be, someone suggested it be his mom's name. Which had lead to the explanation that he hadn't exactly had a mom. Well there had been Shisu, but… He didn't want to get into any of that. So that had lead to his birth story which he realized not even Casca or Rickert really knew, which lead to the magic password thing.
The circle glowed for a second before the portal sprung to life. A faint light came from the swirling vortex and Guts really wished there was another way to get out of Falconia. But pushing those fears aside, he frowned and took the step inside.
…
He doesn't remember traveling through the portal, but he does remember waking up on the other end.
The first thing out of his mouth was, "Where are they?"
"They?" Guts didn't recognize the Kushan man who must've been guarding the portal, but it did look like the stronghold.
Schierke busted in, although something was different about her. A growth spurt?
"Guts!" she exclaimed. The young witch rushed forward to hug him, a broad smile on her face. She then let go just as quickly, "I asked Farnese to get everybody, but we should go so we can all get caught up."
She lead Guts to another room, leaving the Kushan guard in confusion, to start the debriefing. Farnese was lying on a cot in the corner, probably astral projecting. Soon enough though, she woke up.
"Guts? You're back!" Farnese smiled, "Have you seen Casca and-"
"Not yet." Truthfully, Casca and their child were the only ones he was dying to see right now. Not that he didn't want to see the others, but his- his family? Yeah, his family was first and foremost in his mind.
"They should be here soon, they were one of the few one's still up."
That worried Guts just a little bit, but Farnese made it seem like it was normal enough.
A fireball with a glowing blue bug like thing shadowing him came running in, crashing into Schierke.
"Stop running everywhere!" Schierke scolded.
Isidro had also grown, though not as much as Schierke, who was now slightly taller than him.
Isidro ignored the witch and skirted around her towards Guts. "Bossman!" He exclaimed, then deeming the response not cool enough said, "I've been holding down the fort while you've been away."
Puck flew at him crying, "My home and Betchi are returned!" And hugged Guts' face, "You had no right to leave for so long, we were worried."
Man he had missed these losers. The door opened again, and Guts felt his heart leap until he realized it was just Serpico. Serpico nodded, "Guts." he entered the room fully, and after him walked Casca and her baby.
Her hair was short again, and her eyes were tired. Guts forgot how to breathe. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but was cut off by Guts striding forward to hug her maybe, but then he saw the baby closer. It's small and squirmy, with more of Casca's coloring, and absolutely perfect. Gently, he holds his hand close to the baby who grabs onto his finger with a stronger than he would've guessed grip.
Guts looked up from the baby to see Casca's glistening eyes. She looked down at the child to say, "Phillip, meet your father."
"Phillip?" Guts asked.
She nodded. "Schierke thought of it."
"It' a good name."
Their reunion was cut short by Silat joining them. "You're back." he stated, "You completed your mission."
"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't." Guts grumbled.
Silat seemed to notice what the mood of the room had been, "You and Commander Casca can speak after we hammer out a few issues."
Guts looked to Casca, who seemed to agree with Silat. "We'll need to get into action as soon as possible now, phases two and three should be launched within a week."
With QUITE A BIT OF reluctance, Guts agreed.
"Alright." he said, "By the way, did you know your mole was the Queen of Falconia?"
By the looks on their faces, Guts guessed they didn't.
"Guts! What do you think of Phillip, isn't he cute! I love him so much! When he gets older I'll teach him how to fish, don't worry!" Isma exclaimed, running late and breaking the spell on the room. "Oh." She realized, "We're on to business already. Darn."
"Guts, you were supposed to keep that secret." Farnese said. "To protect her."
"I just figured, if we were going to attack that place, she might get caught up in the crossfire." Guts defended, "She's on our side now."
"Guts are you sure?" Casca asked, "You do remember how deep her… infatuation with him was?"
"She's done with that now. She wants him dead."
"Humans aren't our enemy." Schierke interjected, "I trust Guts' judgement."
Casca was still skeptical, but let it drop.
Damn, he had even missed arguing with her. She was so amazing.
"Tell us what happened while you were away Guts." Silat said, putting the conversation back on track.
"Yeah, how bad are sewers? I get that I can technically not drown, but if it's super gross I could still probably die." Isma asked.
They sat around the table in the room, and Guts gave his report, from waking up in the middle of nowhere alone, to defacing the world tree, to the gates of Falconia. Guts tried to make it as brief as possible, since he wanted to clean up some and go to bed. At least at the moment he was surrounded by the people he loved the most, that was certainly an improvement to being imprisoned, or walking through sewers, or just being in that cursed city.
Pretty much at the end of the story, Isidro was already nodding off, as was Casca.
"I'm tired, we'll continue this tomorrow." Guts announced, gently rousing Casca. Farnese had taken to holding Phillip, and stood up along with them.
Silat sighed, but bags could be seen under his eyes as well, "Time is short… but we do need to be refreshed for the attack." he said. "We will continue this tomorrow."
So their crew got up and went back to bed. Guts followed Casca and Farnese back to what he assume were Casca's rooms. Everything had moved around a little bit since he'd been gone. Finally at the room, Farnese handed the baby back to Casca, who went to lay down immediately.
Farnese turned to him as she opened the door to leave, and her eyes softened, "It's really good to have you back."
"It's good to be back."
She closed the door behind her.
Alone at last. With Casca and their child. Phillip.
Guts went to wash up, seeing as he had walked through a sewer. He removed his armor, the pain rushing back to him. There was a basin of water in an adjoining room, by the end he wasn't clean persay, but much better. Better enough to join his family in the bed.
"Casca." He whispered, but she was already asleep.
Oh well, she had looked tired. Phillip was asleep too, lying on her chest. Guts took a few moments to really take both of them in. Casca, besides the short hair, looked the same as she ever had, which is to say beautiful. And Phillip- well Guts couldn't describe the feelings he felt for Phillip. He hadn't even known the boy a day and he already knew he had to protect him.
So grasping the peace he finally had, and holding on for as long as he could, Guts fell asleep with the image of his family on his eyes, and prayed that he would never lose it.