Mephisto felt the first stab of dread in his gut the moment Gramorr got his clawed hand on the final Oracle Gem. It solidified after Gramorr started ignoring them.

Praxina didn't seem to get it. Or else she was choosing not to get it. Trying desperately to hold onto the dream, trying to get Gramorr to include them in his plans. Pretending they were still relevant.

Mephisto sensed that ship had sailed. Also, when Gramorr said he would "enslave the entire planet," wouldn't that include them?

A voice in his mind kept whispering, get out of here, grab Praxina and get the heck out of here, run as far as you can, as far as you have to. Get away from him.

He would often look back on those moments and wish fervently that he'd listened to that voice.

But he didn't. Something held him in place. Maybe his shock and horror at the full scope of Gramorr's plans had stunned him. Maybe he was a coward and his fear had frozen him. Maybe he was doomed to be always a follower, never a leader, and was stuck following Praxina's lead until the end. He wasn't sure, but it didn't matter.

They stayed, and a horrible cold feeling spreading through his veins told him they would most likely end up paying dearly for it.

If only he'd braced himself. If only he'd been more observant. He should have been paying more attention.

His heart dropped as the rocks did. He instinctively shouted Praxina's name. She turned to look at him, oblivious to the danger.

Mephisto leaped towards her and instantly regretted it. He knew with sudden, crushing certainty that he should have teleported.

He didn't remember what happened next. There were rocks and dust and a wave of force that sent him rolling away. A shockwave travelled through the stone an instant later.

No.

When he looked up, there was a hole where Praxina had been standing.

No.

Numb, Mephisto scrambled to the edge of the hole. Hoping, praying...

Praxina was falling, along with the rocks. She opened her eyes with effort and looked back up, just as the largest rock began to glow. Terror overtook her expression. She was too weak to teleport, and there was only a split second, it happened so fast-

The sound of the explosion tore through him, shattering his entire world. He felt as if he'd been stabbed directly in the heart.

"...No," he whispered, his eyes huge and blank with shock.

Despair suddenly flooded him, a rush of soul-wracking pain. He wasn't even aware he was screaming until his throat began to ache. He didn't care. He would scream her name until the stars rang with it. Until the sky fell from the sound of it. Until the universe understood what exactly it had so offhandedly taken from him.

She was gone. His sister was gone.

The only person he cared about, the only family he had.

He'd die for her, kill for her, flatten mountains for her.

She was his everything.

His everything.

Gone.

The stone at the edge of the hole crumbled and gave out beneath him and he was falling.

He didn't care. It didn't matter. It couldn't matter. Nothing mattered. She was gone. Nothing mattered.

A small part of him actually hoped the fall would end this agony.

Iris was stunned and confused. What happened to Praxina? She'd been so focused on Gramorr... could she have hurt her without noticing? Was Mephisto ok? He was falling but... he could fly, right? Or teleport?

Gramorr didn't allow her much time to speculate, redoubling his attack. Iris, caught off guard and overpowered, was beginning to falter. Gramorr was preparing a final attack, which was sure to be brutal.

A blinding green light distracted them all.

Mephisto was hovering, surrounded by magic. His expression was beyond livid, and his eyes glowed an unnatural poison green.

"YOU!" shouted Mephisto, shaking with rage. "NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU!"

He shot a massive beam of raw green magic at the combatants. Iris braced herself, but it wasn't aimed at her.

The beam struck Gramorr with surprising force and precision.

The tyrant howled in pain and fury as he staggered a little. It was enough time for Iris to regain her footing. The other Princesses rushed forward to join her.

Gramorr turned his blazing eyes upon Mephisto. "TRAITOR! You've cast your lot with them? Then you will share in their fate!"

He shot a beam of magic at Mephisto. Even a tiny fraction of Gramorr's current power was enough to break through a hastily summoned shield and send Mephisto flying into the mountainside.

His back collided hard with cold purple stone. It knocked the breath out of him so completely that he couldn't even cry out at the pain flooding him.

Mephisto blacked out and remembered nothing else.

After a relieved reunion and a moment of joy, Auriana was the one who remembered first.

"Wait... Where's Mephisto?"

They found him on his hands and knees in the rubble. He was covered in dust and sobbing uncontrollably.

The princesses looked at each other, sympathetic but awkward, unsure how to help him.

Iris, the most empathetic, went and knelt beside Mephisto. She gently laid a hand on his shaking back.

He shrank from her touch. "Get away," he choked out. "Don't... Don't touch me! It's your fault, too."

Iris' heart hurt to see him like this. "...You're right. I'm so sorry. I... didn't mean for it to happen." Her voice broke. Guilt crashed into her chest as she processed everything. "...It... It was an accident..."

He knew that it was. He knew Iris felt terrible. That knowledge didn't make him feel as good as he'd expected it would. It just made him cry harder.

"...Thank you, Mephisto," she said quietly.

That caught him off guard. He looked at her, sobs paused by surprise even as tears rolled freely down his dirty face.

"Without your help, we might not have defeated Gramorr." She gave him a bittersweet smile. "You're a hero, Mephisto."

He blinked. He'd never expected to hear his name and "hero" in the same sentence. It sounded weird.

Iris tentatively touched his back again. He let her.

"...She'd be so proud of you." There were tears on her cheeks.

Mephisto stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes huge and overflowing with emotion. His face twisted as a fresh wave of grief overtook him.

He found himself in Iris' arms, sobbing his broken heart out. She held his hunched form and mumbled comforting nothings to him through numb lips.

The rest of the Princesses grabbed each other's hands for support, shedding tears themselves.

There was a moment of silence as a hushed shadow of mourning passed over their victory.