"What have we here? A... crow?" Levana laughed, pushing a curled red lock away from her face with her free hand. "How fitting for—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, for at that moment a long, brown object went sailing past Scarlet's head, knocking the gun clear out of Levana's hand and whacking her face on its path to the floor, where it made a soft thump.

Before Scarlet even fully registered what had happened, her gun was up as well, pointing directly at the queen's heart. She fired, but Levana hit the ground, one hand on her nose, another scrabbling for the gun. Scarlet re-aimed and fired another shot, but Levana rolled over, gun finally in hand. Luckily for Scarlet, though, Levana was a queen, and Scarlet was a spy. With one more shot, she hit the barrel of Levana's gun, making her drop it, and then sent the next bullet straight into Levana's calf.

Levana cried out, blood already seeping into the gossamer pink fabric of her costume. She curled into herself, hugging her leg, tears already making their way onto the floor. How very unqueenly, Scarlet thought, aiming her gun at Levana's head.

Levana did nothing to deserve to live. She'd killed countless of Kai's citizens, jailed Cinder and Kai, and tried to kill Scarlet herself. If anyone deserved death, it was her.

But then Levana's face flickered and changed, and Scarlet was so horrified her gun's aim fell to the ground and every thought of killing her stopped.

The person in front of her, the scared mess that was crying and hugging her leg and bleeding—she wasn't a queen. She was a monster.

Scarlet leaned over, her stomach heaving. If she had anything in her stomach, she would've thrown up. As it was, only bile rose to her throat.

It wasn't, per say, that Levana's scars were so ghastly. They were ugly, and sharp, and cruel, but they weren't fresh—grown over as if they'd been there for decades. What had been so startling was the contrast with how Levana normally looked, with flawless skin and complexion, and features nothing like the shapeless lump that Scarlet saw now.

"Scarlet!" Wolf ran up to her, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Scarlet, are you okay?"

"I—I'm fine." She wiped her mouth, though there was no need, since nothing had actually reached her lips. "I swear, I'm okay."

He looked down at the floor, where Levana lay sobbing. His face contorted.

"May I...?"

Scarlet shook her head. Now that she thought about it, Levana's death wasn't their decision to make, after all. Maybe it was Kai's decision, but it wasn't hers.

Wolf then averted his eyes from Levana's form, instead taking a set of keys from one of the fallen guards and unlocking Cinder and Kai's cells. When the doors opened, Kai and Cinder both made to stand up and leave, but only Kai made it to the door. Cinder fell back to the ground, catching her fall meekly with her cyborg hand.

Kai, startled, looked back at her, fear on his face.

"Cinder! Cinder, are you alright?"

"It's just my ribs." She gasped, holding them tighter. "I'm okay. I'm... fine."

Wolf walked in and scooped her up, and she cried out in pain, but it couldn't be helped. She had to escape somehow.

And they had to go now. Scarlet knew this. The longer they waited, the sooner the guards would come to get them, and judging by the gash on Kai's forehead, Cinder's state, and Iko's inexperience, now was not the time to get caught in a situation they had to fight their way out of.

But part of her didn't want to leave yet, not with Levana alive, not without checking in with Kai and Cinder and figuring out what had happened in the first place.

"Wolf," Scarlet heard Cinder say. "Wolf, there's something you all need to know. Something... important."

"We have to go now, Cinder," Wolf said gently. "Or else we'll get caught before we get out of the palace."

"I know, but this is important. You have to realize what's happening, because... because things are even worse than you think."

"Worse than Levana guarding your own jail cell?" Scarlet laughed, but there was little genuine about it. They had to get out. "I don't think—Wait, why was she...?"

"I'm princess Selene." Cinder winced more, gingerly positioning herself in Wolf's arms, clearly still in pain.

Scarlet's mind reeled. "Wait, so—"

"No time for questions," Kai cut in. "She just needed to tell you because it means it will be even harder to escape."

"Wait, but... She tried to kill you a birth. But you escaped. And... that means that out of any of us here, you are the only one who can decide Levana's fate." Scarlet nodded at Cinder. "She's here, wounded. We could kill her, quick and easy and painless. It's all up to you."

Levana hadn't moved from her position. She must not have been accustomed to pain, or maybe she was too accustomed. Either way, it seemed like it would be a while before she'd be up again.

Cinder seemed to ponder it, or perhaps it was the pain scrunching her face up.

"No one deserves to die," she whispered. "No one. Not even her."

"Are you sure? Because—"

"No one." Cinder closed her eyes.

Just then a shot rang out, and a blinding pain spread through Scarlet's left arm, blood splattering. Before she could think, she turned on her heel and shot a bullet straight ahead.

It went clean through Levana's skull.

Before she could see anything else, sense anything else, Scarlet crumpled, dropping her gun. She lightly touched her upper arm, tears already springing to her eyes.

"She shot me," Scarlet croaked. "That filth just shot me."

Wolf moved to lean down towards her, even with Cinder still in his arms, but then froze, fear stopping his face.

Scarlet couldn't remember the last time he'd looked afraid. Then, through the tears, through the pain, she looked up as well.

Guards. Maybe thirty of them, all in royal uniform. Blocking the hallway. One stood in front, gun trained on them.

"Drop your weapons and kneel," he commanded. The five of them knelt, Scarlet practically falling to the ground. She shut her eyes harder, trying not to scream out.

Opening her eyes again, she saw all thirty of the guards take their guns from their holster and point them towards them.

But the scariest thing wasn't their numbers, or their guns.

All of them only had one eye, right in the center of their foreheads.

Cyclops.

Cinder clung to Wolf's shirt, eyes open despite the fact that every inch of her—especially her ribs—screamed in pain. Drinking in the scene before her, the guns and the uniforms and the single eyes, was too much to shut out, too much to ignore.

And she was princess Selene. Wasn't she supposed to swoop in and save them all? Wasn't she supposed to be a hero? But all she felt right then was pain and weakness. She couldn't even stand. She was a nobody then, a weak, dying nobody.

How would they get out of this one?

"Who are you?" the forward guard commanded. He was clearly their leader.

Before anyone else could answer, Cinder said what first came to her head.

"Nobody."

"Nobody, eh?" He smiled, the corners of his eye crinkling. "Lie to me again and you and your friends are dead."

Cinder took more shallow breaths, trying to bite back her pain. Oh, what she would do to be out of this place, what she would do to be anywhere but here.

Then a tingling started at the base of her spine and grew, washing over her entire body. She finally closed her eyes, a warmth spreading with it, touching from her fingertips to her toes. The pain didn't go away, but it seemed secondary in comparison to this wonderful feeling, wherever it came from.

Then Wolf dropped her, and she rolled to the floor, crying out where she hit the floor.

Why weren't they dead already? Why hadn't they been shot?

She looked around her. Everyone was staring at her. But why?

Glancing at her outstretched hand, she did a double take. Where was her cyborg arm? Why was there smooth skin instead, healthy and shiny and... wait.

Lunar.

How had this escaped her notice? If she knew she was princess Selene, how did she not put two and two together...

The pain faded into the background. She felt powerful now. She rose, one foot and then the other, arms fisted at her side. Wolf was behind her still, in shock. Everyone was in shock. Everyone but her.

"Put down your weapons," Cinder commanded, feeling the cyclop's energy, bending her own around it until... all their guns fell to the ground.

"Turn around." Their backs turned.

"Cover your ears with your hands. Do not speak of this. Run as far away as you can." They crashed into each other in their effort to get out, to get away. A smile itched at Cinder's lips, but then her exhaustion and pain caught up. She collapsed, a vignette framing her vision until everything looked like a dream.

Seconds later everything turned to black.