As everyone attempted to regain their sight and the only two with was fighting, mirim seems to have remembered something that could be important. Back before she joined the rebels and was in a project for melona, the swamp witch's minion that had given out to be the iron strategist. Mirim actually approached the queen, this was still early on after she got the role but she managed to break through to the queen once. However mirim thought it was only a dream and still does it could be their only chance to break the claudette's power without even harming her, and with that in mind still finding her bearings she yells to the only other able to see. "She is cursed!"
Pretty much everyone heard her and headed for the sound trying to ignore what she said, but annelotte had frozen and was looking confused. Claudette got her guard up more so than before but mirim shouted again. "Just trust me!" Shaking her head and with a slight plan to surprise the queen, fully trusting mirim, annelotte got out of her half-staged demon form and to human. The silver armor, blue eyes and flowy long lavender hair, almost glowing in the still bright broken castle. Annelotte hurried towards Claudette that seemed lost in thought but just as she was getting close, a giant wooden spoon was thrown across the room and forced annelotte off path. She quickly faced the threat and immediately recognized the white haired, red eyed woman standing in the entrance with two demon dolls floating by her. "Y-you? What are you doing here?"
Everyone was finally getting to their senses and annelotte was realising she had lost her chance, she turned back to the queen but she was gone. Even her allies was surprised and wondering before continuing the fight trying to keep them back. Aldra rushed in and hit annelotte with a force so hard she flew right off the edge and down the castle walls, hitting the ground hard and was knocked out. With the rebels looking the way she was tossed, it gave the queens allied time to fight them back.
Once they were taken care of to an extent they turned to aldra, neither sure why she had come to pick any side as all she would ever care about was her town and her husband, why would she care about a fight like this with nothing to do about neither. But something was off, her eyes. Though no one could see it, they had a cross barely pink. Aldra explained that she came to help because it would benefit her, which also seemed off for many reasons, they accepted it and let her with them.
Claudette still not found by anyone, had escaped the scene, when she was caught off guard before and in thought she had remembered something. Related to mirim, she had remembered the scene and how melona forced her to forget what she had promised her. Melona had been keeping a curse on her, just like all the beautiful warriors. All cursed by the swamp witch, just now it had opened to her that she also was one of the warriors and cursed. Melona had been keeping it in check, but even more than this she had been thinking of how much she just realised that annelotte resembled Alphonse when she turned back to human form.
Claudette found her way down to the colosseum underneath the castle, she had not even a clue that it existed, down there was a fight of its own unrelated to the storm above. She stopped and looked over it from a balcony high above not noticed by the tons of watchers or participants. Betting, fighting and in occasion death. For the sake of amusement. It aggravated her to a high grade, she made her way down to the cells trying to go unnoticed. But just as she made it there she was greeted by the only one that had seen her, a dragon in a gigantic cage.
"Why if it is not the queen herself, quite the sight to find you down here your majesty. I go by the name Usher. What would you be doing in a place like this?" Claudette looked taken back by the sight of him but quickly replied. "I-i did not even know this place existed in my own castle. But why are you, a noble dragon doing here, and trapped at that?" Usher sat up and shaked his head. "My master was captured and forced to fight for Dogura, though she could escape if she wanted to. However her pride will be the end of her one day, i will forever stay here by her side." Claudette decided to head further down through the cells finding all sorts of unbelievable things, but one far hidden cell caught her attention.
It was the scent, the sweet yet sharp scent she had smelled before but also something else. A perfume. She headed to it only to find it empty mostly, there was no one in it but there most certainly was something there. On the left side wall was chains with cuffs hanging with blood on that had long ago floor also with blood but had metal pieces scattered like glass and cloth with some weird light pink gloup as well as a large whip, but most notably was a long table full of strange gadgets. Some torture devices other just bottles of the same light pink slime, there was no doubt.
This was the cell elina had kept annelotte back after their first encounter, when someone had bailed her out and helped her start the damned revolution. She suddenly was reminded of mirim's words. She shook her head and locked herself into the cell to block out the noise of the colosseum and just try to think, was it right to up and abandon the fight now? Her friends and partners in arms was there fighting to keep her alive, to help her country. But she just could not, she could not fight with all these feelings in her head fighting her internally. Her memories she had been forgetting just slowly returning, eating away at her and confusing her. What was real and what was just planted as a curse?
Claudette looked up catching the glint of someone but it quickly disappeared, soon after the door to the cell was broken in like paper and there stood aldra. Everyone else was ordered to stay up while she had been looking, though there was no coincidence that she had found her. Aldra quickly pinned the queen to the wall, keeping her stuck with the same slime as in the jars, but it was coming from herself and not from anything in the room. That was when she realised it was not aldra at all, it was melona and the glint before was undoubtedly airi. Another minion of the swamp witch and a ghost.
Later the queen was greeted by the rest of her allies as she came up with who they all still believed to be aldra, almost looking brainwashed like a few days before. They all got back to the rebels that had been searching the grounds for their leader, fighting them away from the castle one by one, though it turned out they never found annelotte either. The armies were ordered to hold back and so the rebel army also got their break, little did anyone know the queen was not far from annelotte when hiding before. She had been pulled into the colosseum cells, just above the prison cells, thrown in with branwen, Usher's master.
Annelotte slowly woke up to the sight of dogura looking her over and branwen minding her own business at the other end of the cell. "So you are awake rebel, i remember you from your last storming of the castle. But this time you take my orders." Annelotte did not much mind him, instead actually trying to ignore his words. "This is the second time i wake up like this in this castle, what is the deal with everyone here and chain cuffs?" She squirms trying to loosen them but also kind of realised it was to no avail. Dogura turned to branwen and told her to take care of the new prisoner. "I have got a place i need to be, i wish i could work on you rebel but no can do. Which is why I will be letting branwen take care of you, loosening you up til i come back. C'ya." Then he left and locked the cell behind him, though it was not far he got down the stairs before he could hear the screams from above. He just grinned and giggled to himself as he continued on his way.