"Do you know what Mary is going to say?" Presea asked as she and Joaquin walked into the apothecary shop. It was midnight in Luin; no one was out on the streets except the night watch. Presea and Joaquin had to sneak around to not get caught.

"No, she didn't share that with me. But I bet it's from Shiro." He winked at her as they quietly tiptoed around the shop. It was dark, save for the moonlight that filtered through the windows. Joaquin led them to the back of the store, pulling the rug up and opening the trap door. "After you," he gestured. Presea nodded and went down carefully, feeling each rung of the ladder with her foot before descending. Stay vigilant. This is out of the ordinary. The abruptness with which the meeting was called alarmed the girl. From all her past experience, the Erinyes were organized and systematic. This seemed out of character. It must be important, due to the immediacy. "Ready to go?" Presea nodded and they walked further in to the darkness, towards the flickering lights at the end.

As they came upon the group of men and women clustered together, Mary looked up and smiled. "Welcome, welcome." They took seats quickly and Mary continued, "As I was saying, Shiro has reached out to me. He has given me instructions." She paused. Presea could feel her heartbeat quicken. "The Erinyes will extinguish the town of Luin." Noise erupted all around. The men and women of the group were angry, confused, overjoyed. Luin? They want to blow up Luin? Presea knew she had to get the information to Yuan immediately. They would need to get to the Luin government and evacuate everyone. But Mary put up her hands and everyone fell silent.

"I know, I know. You are asking 'how can this be', 'why our home'? Do not ask these questions. Instead, ask yourselves, are you willing to sacrifice for the cause? We are the guardians and keepers of humanity. We will light the way." She paused, waiting to see the reactions, but the group remained silent. "We will set charges throughout the city. We will let the Sylvaranti know that they do knot deserve this symbol of rebirth. They do not deserve peace when they welcome the wolf into the lamb's den. I will give you each an assignment in the coming day. Stay vigilant. Luin will be no more in three days."

Three days? I must tell Yuan. There isn't much time to evacuate the city. Presea began to rise to leave, as she noted many others did, when Mary said, "One more thing to discuss." Everyone resumed their seats. "We have a spy in our midst."

The girl felt her heart stop for a second; her muscles tensed and she bit her lip. How does she know?

"Someone has been feeding our secrets to the enemy." Mary paused and asked, "You didn't think we'd find out, did you?" She wasn't addressing anyone in particular, just the small group, silent save for their breaths. "You thought we couldn't see you, a wolf in she's clothing. Well, now you shall pay." Mary stuck out her arm and pointed. She pointed right at Presea.

Oh no. Presea shifted her face to confusion. "What? What are you talking about? This is a mistake."

"A mistake? I don't think so." Mary sneered.

"I heard her, talking to Yuan Ki Fan, Head of Intelligence for Sylvarant. I heard her say that she had 'made contact' and was waiting to hear Mary's secrets." Joaquin spat, venom in his gaze. "I thought it was suspicious that you had escaped the fight in Arkylia. I thought maybe you were a coward. But no, you were in league with them."

Presea ran. Bursting down the hallway away from the group, she raced to the ladder at the end. She scrambled, her feet meeting the wooden rungs, but a pair of hands were on her waist, tugging her down. She writhed her body, side to side, trying to shake them off. But another set of hands pulled her down and she fell to the floor. Two bodies stood over her, the flames of their torches flickering over the scorn on their faces. Minimum likelihood of escaping.

As one leaned down to pull her up, she managed to grip his arm with her right hand, and connect her left fist to his face with the other. He howled and walked backward and she jumped up, but found herself kicked against the wall. With the wind knocked out of her, she gasped for breath and tried to reach for the small knife in her shoe. But she was too slow. The attacker grabbed her arm and flung her over his shoulder to the ground. Pain exploded through her back; she was not getting up any time soon. Mary's face appeared overhead. "We'll keep her down here. Tie her up. Shiro will send instructions on how to deal with her." Presea's heart quickened. She knew what Mary was alluding to. Torture. She felt nausea overcome her and she rolled to the side, vomitting.

"Scared, traitor? You should be," a voice jeered. She didn't care to see who it was. Presea needed to focus on her training and determine what options she had. Her mind barely registered her hands being tied together.

"Sit down here and rot, little girl. Your time will come soon." Mary said, her voice devoid of warmth.

And then Presea was alone. Slowly, she crawled to the wall and pushed herself to sit upright. Pain pulsed all over her a few deep breaths, Presea felt herself begin to calm. That was the first step. She couldn't think if she was in a state of stress. After a few moments, Presea opened her eyes. The pain was still in her body, achy and dull, but her mind started to churn. It was pitch black in the basement. With a bit of effort, Presea managed to pull the small knife from her shoe and undo her bonds. They hadn't searched her for weapons; they clearly had never held anyone prisoner before. One advantage. She felt along the wall for the ladder and cautiously climbed. Quietly, the young woman attempted to push up on the door, but it wouldn't budge. They must've put something on top.

She sat on the rung, and evaluated her options. One: I could incapacitate any visitors and make a run for it. Two: Make as much noise as possible during daylight hours. Those seemed to be the only obvious choices at the moment. Yuan knows where I am. This brought her a small amount of consolation. Before departing earlier, Presea had had the foresight to send Yuan a message, alerting him to the emergency meeting. He will wonder why I won't check in after the meeting. He will think something happened at the end of the day. He will send someone to investigate the next day. But it will be too late for Luin, perhaps me as well.

The bleak thought infested itself in her mind. The Erinyes would torture her, attempt to force her to reveal secrets about Yuan's organization, maybe even use her for ransom. I must stall for time. She needed to give Yuan time to realize something was wrong. But how?

She knew the answer before finishing the question. In the dark, Presea felt for her exsphere mounted key crest. A shiver of fear ran up her spine. The two and a half years she had spent regaining her humanity could be lost in the next moment. If she removed the key crest and attached the exsphere to her skin, she would become its victim. It would feed off of her, and subvert her consciousness, rendering her a living doll. If the Erinyes were to torture her, the exsphere would tap into her fight or flight sensibilities, and she would defend herself with lethal ability. But any questions they asked her about anything related to the Intelligence community, Presea's consciousness would be inaccessible, imprisoned by the exosphere's poison.

Presea had spent her life as a living doll for sixteen years. And now she would have to return to it. Even if she were saved, would a key crest work again? Would it give her back her humanity? Or would she remain a doll forever?

What alternative is there?

There was none.

A tear slid down her cheek, and an overwhelming tide of despair heaved through her. She had failed. She had failed her mission, her friends, and Yuan.

Mechanically, Presea removed the exsphere and key crest combo from her chest, just below her throat, and felt around the metal edges in the dark. Her fingers plucked the crystal out of the key crest, and it hummed between her fingertips. It felt cold and smooth. She hesitated no more. Presea fused it to her skin on her chest and gasped. Pain erupted all over her body, and she saw stars. Her skin was on fire, her heart pounded, her bones rattled. She knew she was screaming, but she couldn't hear the sounds. Slowly, her consciousness slipped away, and her last thought was, 'I'm sorry.'