Dread rushes through me as I watch William approach Lionel.

I know what I am about to see, and I wonder why we realize what we are about to lose when it is far too late. Why is it always when we are not prepared that we lose the things we love?

I clutch the pendant close with a desperate, pathetic plea that I don't want to lose anymore people dear to me, yet my voice gets stuck in my throat and warm tears roll down my freezing cheeks.

I cannot interfere.

The kindness given to me cannot be returned by helping him or taking his place. Lionel decided to give his life for a cause... so I'd dishonor him for choosing him over the thing he fights for... the thing that made him turn against his family and childhood friend.

Even so, I am helpless. I need to pray for healing, but... Mike and Rudder are falling. What Lionel fights for will come to and end and so will he.

I can't heal them from here. I can't cause a floodwave without them being hit as well... and honestly, my legs are crumbling. Just as Kenta I am reaching my limit as well.

Feeling a pressure on my shoulder I finally sink to the marble floor. I see a flash of Kenta's katana moving over my head as I look to Lionel one last time.

William draws a sword with all the elegance of a boar, but Lionel's eyes move to the princess... and then to me.

"William! No!"

I can hear Alstair's desperate scream among the many voices, but as William is about to stop the king speaks up despite his injury.

"That man is a traitor, Alstair! If he lives he will kill you!"

I catch a vague glimpse of Alstair's horrified expression at those words and how both Gilbert and several guards hold Alstair back from intervening...

"What do you want to do?"

Kenta looks to me with a peace I've never seen in him before as he asks me this question.

I want to let Lionel live, but... but I must honor what he holds dear higher than his own life. I mustn't be blinded.

As William raises his sword at Lionel I give my answer, "Save the princess."

Kenta gives me a nod in confirmation and then pulls me to my feet. His blood soaked hand grabs me by the shirt and with little effort he lifts me into the air, all my weight on his hand. His black eyes carry hints of a smile as I am reflected in them...

How long has it been since I saw him smile? But... what is he doing?

"Ken...ta?"

"I... wish I could have done for you what that man has, Rei."

His faint words are followed by a sinking feeling in my stomach as he lowers me just a bit... and with a last ditch effort of strength with the pained and exhausted roar of a lion Kenta... throws me....

Above the encirclement and further than the strength of man should allow him... towards Lionel.

Why?!

Weren't you the one saying you were reaching your limit?!

I-... I said I wanted to save the princess!

I grit my teeth and feel more burning tears force themselves from my eyes... but the true pain is from the realization that Kenta must have realized I wished to protect Lionel.

I see Kenta grip his sword tightly and turn the moment he lets go of me, and with yet another roar he charges into his encirclement recklessly and without thought, taking all attention upon himself from the guards and soldiers trying to kill the princess.

Ken-chan heads towards the princess... Alone.

Once again trying to deal with everything around him... alone.

To fulfill all of my wishes he sacrifices himself without a second thought.

He is already far beyond exhausted, more wounded than he can ever recover from and even I can see how he used up the last bit of his strength on throwing me... yet he just doesn't stop moving despite blades striking him and rock spikes trying to pierce him fully.

His large back, though drenched with blood, seems so bright and beautiful... please let him be with Haruki and everyone els-

A foolish hope fills my mind.

A weak prayer born by words Kenta had once spoken... please... if there is any one time you listen to my prayers, let it be now!

If not for me or for honor of war, then for Kenta, lead him back to the pride!

"Haruki-Gunso! Protect them!"

My voice seems so fragile and small.

I expect to hit the ground, but instead a metallic clang sounds behind me and my fall is broken by a pair of large arms and a warm body.

I try to scramble to my feet, but the arms around me tighten.

"Li...ly?"

William's voice sounds above me.

The arms hold me tight as I look up at William standing above me... us, looking down at me in palpable disgust.

A buzz goes through the minor nobles behind him, but my eyes glide down to his sword. Wait... the clang and catch...

Did Lionel throw his sword away to catch me?

And Kenta?

I look to the distance, and an enormous blue vortex fills that side of the grand hall... towering figures step out of it, all dressed out of this world. There's only about a dozen of them, but it's them.

I clutch the pendant as I see one of the towering figures grab Kenta and pull him into their group.

"Yoi!"

Haruki's voice echos as a response to my order.

If nothing else the princess will be safe now. If just they can get her to the "Harbor..." then everything should be fine. Lionel's fight will not have been for naught... I can rest...

Foolishly, relief hits me.

"Cursed one."

William speaks at me and raises his sword, but as I try to raise mine, I find my arm lifeless and unresponsive. Probably the pressure I felt on it earlier... but it didn't really hurt...

Everything too cold, and burns too much by now. My mouth is too dry to speak even though I see Lumere waiting as it floats around.

I try to speak out the words for a tsunami, but I know that it will be too late... the sword is already swinging.

Lionel rolls us over, ready to take the strike for me without a word, tensing up around me as he is preparing for the pain.

"WILLIAM, STOP!"

Alstair's desperate scream sounds so distant as our tragedy comes to its end.

Lionel jolts around me, and within seconds crimson red blood begins to pour down from him onto the floor and my clothes... and Lionel gets heavy. All this makes me stumble over the words of my prayer as my mind goes blank... with horror that it's over... and as though to mock us a bright golden light fills the grand hall from where William stands...

"Don't stop," Lionel speaks against my ear.

A thump sounds next to us as William's body slips down from Lionel's back onto the marble floor.

Headless.

The light spreads while I finish my prayer, and Soleil's voice silenced the crowd around us.

"We, House Listere swear loyalty to Augustus Celeste, the child of Scorog!"

With that Lumere at my side grows in an instant like an explosion as he rapidly surges down the grand hall, violently and enraged even further as water mages among the palace guards try to stop it.

I twist under Lionel to look to the nobles. What is going on? My eyes lock onto the prime minister who lies dead on the floor. Dead by Soleil's father's hand. I had expected infighting among the nobles, but only Bridgette is pallid with shock. The others all draw swords or look as though they're ready to cast magic.

They were ready for this.

Soleil... glows. The little fairy of light once so worried for him now clings to him and has her hand shoving away the fairy of fire as she throws insults and curses at Alstair.

She blessed him.

Soleil's light fairy gave him her blessing.

I'd figured that she refused to bless him because it would get him killed.

Soleil looks at the light he emanates with shock in his eyes, but when he gathers his composure they shine with determination.

The light around Soleil grows brighter and fills everything in a warm light that chases away the cold and the burning, searing pain all gone.

The Tepet soldiers on the ground around us start getting to their feet... though they'd been passed out before they get up, ready for battle once more.

I feel Lionel pull back and get up along with them, pulling me up along with him effortlessly.

Soleil casts me a quiet glance as if to say 'I finally understand', but doesn't say anything... but when his eyes land on Alstair his eyes shine with an unmistakable hatred.

Finally able to take in the battlefield I am stunned at the developments.

The entrance to the grand hall is now filled with blue mantled knights and Eric, Vitis and Asher stand at the front.

Haruki-Gunso has secured the princess, and the palace guards are backing away from them in terror... but not only that, multiple other ghosts have joined in, and some of them have Headal's coat of arms.

The floodwave did its damage too, as Lionel's soldiers quickly step up and take advantage of the situation to finish off anyone that got hit.

In the middle of the palace guard I see Gil pulling Alstair desperately towards one of the exits around the middle of the great hall.

"...I'll take care of Alstair. He probably won't be able to hurt me."

I stare up at him as he prepares to charge right into battle again and gives my shoulder a light squeeze.

"I will support you from here," Soleil then adds and glances to the side where the king and Normand are stuck between us and the group lead by Haruki. I turn back to face the guards between us and Alstair.

I have to make sure they can't escape.

--*--

Ellie's Point Of View

It took quite a while to guide Asher all the way to the harbor and back. It looks like I even missed Emilia tearing into father's body with a knife.

What a mess.

"What do we do, Ellie?"

Emilia looks at Kenta with her pale violet eyes. Worried for his state. Even a ghost won't last that much damage. He has been quite gravely injured.

Rudder and Mike are both in a critical condition as well. Mike is passed out and barely breathes shakily. One of the samurai are trying to press down on his injuries to keep the blood from slipping between their fingers, but I doubt it'll work much longer.

As for Rudder... he isn't even a ghost but an actual ancestor... but his essence is seeping away as he watches over Mike. If he doesn't return to heaven soon he will crumble entirely.

They're both truly pitiful, to have to say say goodbye twice... that is, if Mike wakes up in time.

Kenta's comrades don't say much. They're focused on the enemies around them and don't speak the language. Thankfully Kenta had spent time learning the language over the last eight years so communicating with him was fairly easy.

He did say Lady Lily would be able to call upon them, but I'm surprised it succeeded. If not for them he, as Rudder would be fading away... just maybe there is a chance that he will make it back to where they came from.

I focus back on Emilia, pushing the tragedies around me away.

"They will get to older brother soon enough. Emilia. For now, leave father to us."

Alstair has yet to order the death of one of us, so the only target we want dead is father...

"Ellie."

The voices of our brothers and sisters form around us, as they take shape. Just as Emilia and I, they are all five, and all are family in one way or another... and all of us are clad in funeral garments worthy of princes and princesses... though a funeral was never held for any of us. The closest thing, is the secret funeral Gil held, away from the cruel eyes of our family.

Hints of impatience shine in my siblings' eyes. Father and Normand have been isolated.

I push one of Emilia's strands of hair behind her ear. Determination and worry fills her violet eyes as the others move between the samurai... heading towards father. They're hungry for vengeance. She's still so young, and only just got her blessing.

"I will go as well-"

Emilia stops me and grabs my hand tightly.

"Will you go for Gil-chan after?"

She knows Gilbert as Gil-chan as well. Ever since I was alive, he has always visited the children of that mansion... even after I died he never stopped, caring for them, playing with them and making their days brighter, when those that should have done so, were too afraid to get attached to them.

I only ever made Gil promise not to get in the way of my revenge. I made him promise to be loyal to them, so that no one else could take this revenge away from us... And it's finally time. Yet he cares for us so much, though he knows what will happen, and if a child gets found out by others, he brings them a gentle and peaceful end, and sends them to me. It has made me wonder often, if the burden i put on his shoulders was too heavy... But I just wished to see him live, rather than join me on this side of regretful deaths.

I give Emilia a vague smile and a nod.

"With father dead, Gil-chan is my last regret..." my voice gets weak, so I clear my throat to look brave, and then turn to push through the warriors along with my many brothers, sisters and dead children of former kings. Soon I'll set you free, Gil. I promise.

As I press past the last samurai, Normand's eyes lock onto us. He is a mess after fighting against Rei and Kenta. That he still stands is a testimony to his willpower. It's comparable to a bear.

The anger too.

"How dare you! How dare you use someone's children against them, cursed monster!"

His eyes shine with pain, as he yells these words at me. After all, he knows a good amount of the kids here, most born after me, and guided by me once their abilities awoke. To see children he has known and seen die in what is usually a bloody struggle, rise as vengeful ghosts is of course painful... but as always Normand is too ignorant.

He always was, even back then, when he took my life.

"No one is being controlled, Normand. This is our own vengeance. Right... father?"

I give father the most innocent smile I can muster, though my words are lathered with spite. To wake up one day and know that your father will kill you, because of something that isn't truly evil. That he would kill you out of fear, greed and a need to control everything around him... that is what reality was like for all of us.

For months father was the scariest being that existed. We all struggled to keep our awoken powers hidden for as long as possible, all for a chance to escape... or at least, the other kids than me.

The father in front of us forgets to breathe, and goes even more pale than he was before. He looks helpless and paralyzed with fear, as the children he ordered killed, stand before him. He wasn't even there for most of the executions. Unable to look his children in the eyes.

I have failed in killing him multiple times before, but this time will be the end of this cruel circle.

"Ellie?"

Father's voice becomes a whimper, and I only give him a vague smile in return.

"Yes, father?"

He still remembers how I killed mother next to him. It's been ten years since then, but just as back then, he trembles once his life is truly in danger. Coward. He just let her die while shaking like this... back then I had hoped the scare would have stopped the killing... but it all continued undisturbed.

There is no choice anymore.

Normand does his best to get into a combat stance, but with his side his leaking blood like a broken faucet, and Lady Lily's hit to his wrist, he won't put up much of a fight. Not to mention all the injuries Kenta gave him.

He can barely hold up his sword anymore.

"Demon child."

Normand's words are aimed at me, but simply I retort with a false smile. My death, and every appearance of mine after is a stain left in their memories. Yet I'm just a monster of their own creation.

I see the others getting closer to father, but focus on Normand. The useless shell of a man over there will pay for his sins. As for Norman-

"Even if you say that, you pushed your child to kill your mistress, you know."

Norman's battle readiness trembles.

"I won't listen to your lies!"

"Lies? You pushed your own child to commit murder because you couldn't keep it in your pants, and you held a woman that kept poisoning your wife, and your children. Your wife was a day away from dying, your kids so close to being assassinated, if it wasn't for the dear lady Lily, who he now cares more for than you."

Confusion.

"Normand, does your wife or your children look at you with love anymore?"

I step closer, as I see his mind race through his memories. His wife hasn't let him hold her since then.

"He killed her in the palace, after she tried to poison Curtis again. Curtis sipped some of it. So as the good, protective older brother he is... Your son took a knife, and sunk it into her gut, while she was gloating at him. He shoved her into a secret passage, because he had no hope that you'd protect them from her... For she still smelled like your nightly escapade, Normand."

"Silence! Demon child! Lionel wouldn't!" He protests, and tries to hump towards me as blood pours out of him.

"Oh how she threatened him, Normand. Told him she'd make you disown him. How his siblings were useless, filthy and cowards. How she'd make sure they died when he was disowned and expelled from the family... But he was only eight, you know. And when it came to killing her... He couldn't do it, because he still loved his father that abandoned him, all to lay with the lady in front of him... So he fled... And left her in that secret passage... Where you slept next to that night... And the next night... And the next night... And years after. So remind me again Normand, which of us is the most cruel? I who wish for revenge, or you who push your young, young children to murder the cruel women he can't keep his lower body from?"

His eyes tear up, for between hoping I lie, and protecting his self image, my words make sense as he browse through the memories around the time. How Lionel suddenly changed around the time Gwenore disappeared, and became far more silent and couldn't look him in the eyes. How Reynold and Curtis finally stopped playing 'hide and seek', how his wife finally stopped crying every night. How Reynold never had even a glance of admiration or appreciation when he trained him personally. How no father son, bonding had always ended with an oddly weak smile from his children, so every good thing they had together would end as though no progress had been made.

I smile at him, as I see his hands tremble on the handle of the sword.

"They hate you even more than I do, and you're the one who killed me. Look, your son isn't even coming to save you. Leaving me to kill you, without even seeing you off."

Normand looks towards where his soldiers are being kept away, and Lionel's voice is nowhere nearby.

"It's not just because you only just now disowned him, you know.'

"That's enough!" Normand bursts out at me, as I look over his enormous crouching frame.

"You already have your vengeance within reach, stop this useless chatter it's pointless," he growls out. Even through this seems like arrogance, he just can't stand to hear anymore of this. He can't stand having his worldview broken.

"Pointless?"

I tilt my head to the side, feeling a cruel smile crawl up on my lips... For I had imagined this... waited for this, and so looked forward to my answer.

"This too, is my vengeance, Normand. For how you abandoned my older sister to be killed, though she begged you and pleaded you to save her. You looked at my adorable, innocent sister, that was frightened that the parents that had adored her would kill her. She clung to your leg, and begged you. She actually had to beg you to take her away from there..."

Normand's eyes widen, as he remembers her, looking to the distance behind me. The current king's first daughter. How innocent and loved she was... And how innocent she probably looks as she stands behind me, clinging to one of the samurai, with frightened tears in her eyes. Her desire for vengeance was never a bloody one. She always just wanted them to regret.

I step within reach of the once great bear of house Tepet.

"And you let her get killed. You never even asked a single question. You heartless demon."

"No- I didn't I-" ah, his composure crumbles. Unlike me, who he can think of as a demon, and unlike our other siblings who he claims I manipulated, she's different. For he held her so happily in his arms, played with her and adored her, and even now, she isn't swayed to violence. What a kind queen she would have been.

"You did. You're just a sinful monster, whose only purpose is to protect your sinful master."

Father screams, as the children drag him down, push him down and wrap their many little and cold hands around his throat.

Normand tries to get up and move towards father, with wild fearful desperation in his eyes. As a child fleeing to his parent to say the monster in the closet is scary... But he's bleeding out.

"Are you going to kill the children, Normand? Normand the child murderer. To save the master who ordered them killed? Looks like your wife and children are right to hate you."

He freezes up, as tears spill from his eyes.

"Stop. Elizabeth, no more," he pleads with me, finally looking at me with eyes filled with something else than hatred. He kneels in front of me, with eyes glossy and distant.

The choking screams of father, with the screams of death from the soldiers seems to fade away for a moment, as I answer him.

"No. Your punishment is for that happy world you think you're in to break, and for you to die as miserably as you've made the lives of your family, and for us you were supposed to protect. Since your loved ones gave up, I'll make you suffer enough for their part as well. Though none of them will remember you, as you walk in the shadows as a ghost until you atone for these sins."

Normand shakes his head. Grimaces and then without warning, his huge hand snaps around my throat, and he lifts me up. I don't need air, but I suppose he can still snap my neck since I'm in a physical form... And yet.

"Do I deserve to die for killing someone that got their own child killed by using the hands of others?"

I need no air to speak, strangling me cannot stop the words... And as he remembers that he lets go, and gets a distant look.

He's dying.

"I- I must protect the king. I must protect everything."

With that distant gaze, he pushes himself to get up again, though tears still spill from his eyes. To be honest, I probably can't stop him, but I don't have to.

Normand, in a display of willpower beyond what should be possible for him, humps towards father as though possessed, supporting himself by his broken sword.

The children part as he gets near, staring up at him with hatred and disgust, but parting without struggle.

When Normand finally gets to father, he finds father ashen, with a forever frozen expression distorted in fear. Around his neck a chain of little blue handprints.

He's too late.

And yet, he drops the sword, and lifts father into his arms, and carries him just a few steps towards a locked door... But before he can even reach the door, a few words slips from his lips, before he collapses on the ground.



It's over.

I look through the Great hall and take a deep breath. Finally. It's been so long. Ten years. I feel a relief moving through my entirety, and the lightness almost lifts me from the ground... But there's one more thing.

Gil-chan.

He shall be free from the burden and duties of the crown for once and for all.

--*--

Gilbert's Point Of View

I desperately pull Alstair through the crowd of Palace guards, my heart hammering in my chest as I wait for the floodwave coming at us. Lily had started chanting when Lionel caught her, and guessing from what I know of her spells then it's probably that.

"WILLIAM, STOP!"

I hear Alstair's desperate scream as he rips himself from my hold. I nearly stumble in the already ankle deep water down here as I turn to grab him again.

"Leave him! Alstair!"

I don't want to see it either. I don't want to see them die, and especially at William's hands...

Soleil interrupts William's strike elegantly by severing his head from his body, clearly having channeled his mana over the surface of the sword to make it cut that way...

Why?

What is going on?

They cut the prime minister down as well.

Then it clicks.

Soleil's odd behavior and the spy I lost that had infiltrated house Listere. A Headal spy probably told Soleil about the murders... but why would Soleil have believed them?

...because of Lily?

William said that he and Soleil had gotten in an argument over the favor of the crown... what if Soleil hadn't been angry over the favor, but had just been unable to hide his contempt?

Soleil could have been planning this for more than a month. As a proof the nobles behind him don't look the least surprised except for miss Bridgette.

Wait- is that light?!

My stomach sinks as the light grows brighter, and a dreadful realization overwhelms me.

The kingdom will fall.

"Soleil too?" Alstair mutters.

I grab Alstair's hand and start pulling him again, but as I look to the other side I see House Celeste reinforcements entering the main entrance of the great hall. Effectively placing us between a rock and a hard place.

The only ways out are now the middle exits.

The House Listere hidden spell is a mass healing spell, and Soleil knows it.

If Soleil really just received the blessing of a light spirit then everything is lost. I need to get Alstair out of here. If I can get him out of here and hide him away until our spies and assassins return from Headal then we should be able to take the palace back.

"Gil... what is going on?"

Uncertainty lingers in Alstair's voice as a roar of water blasts behind us where Lily is.

Most of the guards back up at the floodwave, letting us move through them a bit faster as I rush out an answer and up the stairs to the exit.

"My guess is that Soleil knows about the poisoning. Prince Jacques probably realized you would try to do something to Lily-chan and spread rumors after making a lot of people doubt what the best choice would be."

It's just guesswork, but Jacques is the only one with the amount of information needed to pull all of this off as he can have 'people' spy on us on all times of the day. Emilia simply didn't have the outside influence.

We get through the door out of the great hall and shove through the guards. I scheme out the different hidden passages we need to use to get out when screams start coming behind us.

"Run! Take 4a and 28c to get out of the palace and head to the safe house!"

I stop up and then push Alstair in front of me.

"Gil?!"

"Go! I'll keep them back!"

I know what is coming. I know because I've heard of this from Alva... this reckless behavior.

Someone who rode down a glacier and outran a labyrinth won't let us go so easily when she's just been healed.

I give Alstair another push, but feel him grab my hand.

His usually cold mask cracks.

He looks at me with such desperate and lonely eyes.

"I will never betray you, Alstair. You must go. You must make sure that all the sacrifices made today carry meaning." I give him a vague smile and push him off again and draw my sword.

Alstair grits his teeth, and the pain in his eyes makes me smile a bit more.

You end up finding out just how much people mean to you at the weirdest points in time. Though he never truly cared for me, with Lionel gone, he now looks at me like this. He hesitates a moment too long before running off as I told him. The number of palace guards is almost none here... they're rushing to the great hall. Yet, when I see the huge earth shard shooting through the hallway with Lily on top of it I can't help but admire her tenacity.

She has nearly died twice here, and she just keeps moving as though she insists on fighting until her life is forfeit.

The scent of death I felt so many years ago is clear now, but yet gentler.

I was right to place Lily with Lionel.

The rock falls in front of me, and I ready my sword as Lily steps off of it elegantly as a feline.

She gets into stance like she's demanding a duel... staring at me with such a straightforward look in her eyes.

She's an honorable idiot just like Lionel... but I don't dislike that.

I wave off the guards trying to surround her, and prepare my defense.

I don't want to kill her.

She brought light back into work for me and though unwillingly helped me through the rough and boring times. She's a teacher for work, and a help in life.

But... I'm sorry, Lily-chan. Ristaze and Alstair means more.

I prepare to cast a wall of fire big enough to cover the entirety of the hallways as she mutters one of her prayers.

I wonder, if Ellie hadn't been cursed, would I have been able to escape this role of spymaster? Would I have thought differently, and been a 'good' person?

I set up to parry just in case as Lily finishes.

She looks so calm and confident as she begins her charge. Her ice sword gleams in the candle light.

I set up the wall of fire and feel my shoulders sink. There's no way she could dodge-

A hiss escapes the wall of fire as Lily steps through it... surrounded by flames that doesn't touch her watery frame.

Her sword comes at me, but as I try to deflect her strike her... sword goes through mine... it turns to water just for a second and then becomes ice once again...

She looks into my eyes, but her sword has cut into the middle of my chest...

I end up staring down at her sword... even gripping it just to confirm that it's solid.

I'm not surviving this...

I look back up to Lily.

She looks at me without emotion and effortlessly pulls the sword from my body.

I lose enough balance to fall backwards down onto the marble floor...

She really is... terrifying.

"Lily-chan," I whisper, though the back of my throat begins to taste like metal.

"Thank you."

I tear up and look up at the ceiling.

Thank you for all the things you've done for me.

May you be happy...

I see her eyes widen in confusion... but I won't say anymore. The rest is a secret.

"Goodnight, Gil-chan."

Ellie's voice speaking softly above me is the last thing I hear, making my dying heart flutter with joy, as I embrace the cold to finally be by her side once more, and little hands pull me to the darkness.

--*--

Alstair's Point of View

I slump down against the wall of one of the many secret passages with a choked up whine.

My eyes are burning with salty tears.

I ended up waiting once I entered the second hidden passage, but Gil never appeared.

If I hadn't stopped up to stop William... would we have made it further?

Would Gil have had to stay behind?

If I'd kept my composure during the assassination attempts, would Lionel then still have betrayed me?

If I'd kept a tighter leash on Soleil, would I have realized that he would turn against us?

If I hadn't ordered an assassination on Jacques, would we have had enough intel to see this coming?

Would we have been able to see the house of cards falling apart beneath our feet?

Could we even have stopped it?

Gil is dead.

Normand is dead. He won't survive those injuries, and he was being surrounded when we escaped...

Father is dead too...

William is dead.

The prime minister is dead.

Corpses had been piling up on the floor, coloring the water red.

It's a massacre now if Soleil can heal.

But then Lionel won't be dead... right?

I shake my head and get up again... stumbling down the hidden passage.

Why did he turn on me?

If Soleil knew of the poisoning then it makes perfect sense. He is essentially a good guy and a family person underneath the fake mask of arrogance.

But Lionel is different. He hadn't lost anything. He had no reason to spite me, other than perhaps laying a hand on Lily... but I offered peace. Gil even told them to leave or to run... and they stayed.

Why?

The kingdom will fall. It'll break into civil war and hundreds of people in the capital will turn to killing and murdering within the week... everything will break apart.

The addicts will start flooding the streets. The dealers will ignore restrictions on amount and purity... poison will truly flow freely again...

Raiding will start... but the capital isn't protected from raiders.

With civil war comes instability.

The nobles will wage wars and the people, especially children will suffer again for no reason other than an ideal.

Honor...

A useless ideal that doesn't help anyone. It's just arrogance and a need to feel better than others...

So why would you choose that path, Lionel? A path born from arrogance that will take the lives of thousands...

I stop up again and wipe away the tears. I need to pull myself together. I need to get to the Salender mansion.

There is still hope.

Click.

The exit to the passage in front of me opens up... And Lionel stands in front of me. Alone.

Neither of us speaks, but he looks calm and collected. His injuries are nowhere to be seen either.

He steps back a bit to let me out, but doesn't really talk.

I step out cautiously and watch him.

"Lionel..."

Is it bad that I'm happy to see him?

Is it pathetic that I wished that he would survive even though he betrayed me?

...yet, all I see in front of me is a childhood friend drenched in a look of shame and pain.

I try to search his eyes as they look into mine.

He gently puts a hand on my shoulder, and as I look up his eyes are pained again... but not hostile. It feels like seeing him at his most vulnerable...

A sudden dull pain knocks the air out of me... he hit my stomach?

I try to scramble out of his grip and away, but his grip is hard. I snap enough fire onto his hand to make him let to, but as I get away I see the bloody blade in his hand.

A burning stabbing pain spreads in my guts...

My shirt feels wet already.

I scramble back.

"Why?!"

Lionel watches me quietly.

"An exile isn't enough. I'm sorry."

I scramble backwards towards the door of the room.

My instincts scream at me to run... but... I can't outrun him. I may be faster for a short while, but... it's far from enough to lose him.

I grit my teeth.

"Why? Why won't you understand that you will only spill more blood this way?"

Tears spill again.

Why, Lionel?

Lionel shakes his head quietly.

"Had everything gone as it should then your way could have worked, Alstair."

He steps closer, and in turn I lean back against the door.

"But the god wants this to change... surely. Otherwise none of them would have existed. None of the people that know the fate of this world."

His cryptic words are gentle and filled with sorrow.

"Lily, too?"

I don't know why I asked that... but I guess it would have made sense. After all, she never did trust me and always did despise me.

Lionel nods and then prepares his sword again.

I grit my teeth as I look up at him.

"And Gil?"

Lionel shakes his head.

"Dead."

"Our fathers?"

Lionel looks away as I ask that.

"By the time we returned they were both dead. Father had been stabbed multiple times, but his Majesty was hardly recognizable from how many times he had been stabbed. Emilia claimed that it was the revenge of every dead child of the crown."

I feel tears pressing at my eyes again.

"Are you really the good guy here, Lionel?"

I whisper.

His eyes look pained... just as me he just lost his father... and to such a brutal death. Why can't he see it?

Lionel raises his sword properly.

"It is the price we pay for ignorance."

His sword glimmered in the approaching sunset... the last thought I managed to form was a curse...

May those who harm this kingdom fall as brutally as the way they try to take it.

[AN: per request, Normand's death, and Ellie's revenge is no longer off screen]