The road was long and never-ending.

Fate's muscles ached and she yearned to have a proper night's sleep, but she couldn't rest until this war was over and she was reunited with her family. Hopefully they were all still in groups and were safe. She buttoned up her flannel before she pulled her jacket closer to her body, protecting herself from the cold. However, she found herself leaning against a wall that came out of nowhere, gripping her stomach tightly because it felt like her wound could start bleeding at any moment.

She missed Tristan already. His jacket and gnu were constant reminders of him, but she promised to take care of them. Jokes became serious when said by a dying loved one. There was never a dull moment with the oldest Keynes child and she wanted to be with him right now. He would know how to help her. He would help her keep the hope when she felt like giving up, just like she did right now. She'd never see him again, though. She'd never hear his voice or see his dark brown eyes ever again.

She remembered saying this one time that she couldn't live without Tristan Keynes. It was almost true. She didn't want to see a world without him, but she had to.

She looked down at her hands and realized that they were stained red up past her wrists from her blood, Tristan's blood and the blood of so many others that she either knew the name of or never even got the chance to know. But she only had so much further to go until she met up with the 4 that she had gotten separated from. Were they worried about her? Did they care that her and Tristan might've died together…?

Her question was answered when she heard a voice she had started to miss just as much as Tristan, but she barely reacted. She could only look up to see Destiny for a split second before she slid to the ground, unable to move from her spot. He fell onto his knees beside her, his bag straight beside him as he rummaged through it, pulling out medical supplies after medical supplies.

For some reason, he didn't speak. He just lifted her shirt, cursing silently under his breath about her injury before going back to pulling medical supplies out of his bag.

Fate found herself staring in the window across the street and she couldn't recognize the Exceed in front of her. That girl in front of her had stringy-looking gray fur, dull sapphire blue eyes that no longer sparkled, and she was stained with blood on every inch of her body. Tears were forming in the girl's eyes and her cheeks were stained from past tears that had escaped their prison. Suddenly, her lips opened wide and produced a sound that could only be a scream of agony. She continued to scream, her shoulders were hunched and shaking and tears poured from her eyes, slipping down her cheeks.

Oh, that poor girl. Fate wanted to help her. She wanted to put her down and end her misery. She shouldn't stand to live through that much pain. She couldn't stand it. It wasn't humane. Fate reached out to touch the window and only then did she realize something.

That poor, screaming girl trapped in the window was none other than herself.


There was the faint rustling of footsteps amongst the leaves and Krystal whipped around, her gun aimed in the dark. It was then that she saw an unknown Exceed coming forward with his own gun raised, but Ruri was quick to react and she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet deep into his shoulder. He cried out as he dropped to the ground and Krystal stormed over to him with her gun raised, the barrel pointed between his eyes.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

The Exceed wouldn't give her an answer and he continued to cry out as he clutched at his shoulder which was spewing blood. From behind her, Krystal heard a groan.

"Krystal!" Ruri hissed. "Let's go!"

"Not until it's done." Krystal hissed, her finger curling around the trigger.

"Stop!" A new voice suddenly cried. "Or else they're dead!"

The cocking of a gun caused Krystal to freeze in her tracks and she slowly looked up to see another Exceed with dark fur aiming a pistol at her. The gun was so close; all Krystal has to do was lean forward for it to be pressed against her temple. The Exceed was glaring at her, a sadistic smirk on her face as she reluctantly pulled away from the man below and turned around to see Ruri and Akuma held at gunpoint by 2 other women. He heart began to pound erratically within her chest and she could feel herself freezing up over the fact that they were overwhelmed and surrounded. Her eyes met both Akuma and Ruri's who were both staring back at her with the same expression. Fear.

One of the Exceed's, an orange-furred, began barking orders almost immediately.

"Guns and knives on the ground, right now." She snapped.

Krystal quickly complied, raising one hand up to show that she was surrendering whilst she used her other to lower her gun. She pulled her knife out of her back pocket and dropped that as well. She kicked them both away for good measure before turning her attention back to the orange-furred Exceed who looked like the obvious leader of that little group as she was the one giving all of the commands.

"Nice jacket."

Krystal turned slightly to see that it was Akuma's captor that was talking. She happened to be eyeing her up and down in interest, her gaze never leaving the denim of Tenshi's jacket that was wrapped around her shoulders.

"I'll certainly be taking that when you're gone."


"So, what are you going to name him?"

Marcy sighed at Mira's question. It was meant to distract her from the obvious worrying she had been doing for everyone who hadn't been left behind at the Guild. She held her teddy bear in her arms and was squeezing him tighter than usual, so Mira must've tried to calm her down. They were in the middle of a war… How could Marcy be calm when her family was fighting?

"I'm still not sure…" Marcy sighed in reply.

"That's okay. You should take your time and not let anyone rush you, alright?" Mira asked softly, busy with cleaning a glass.

Marcy nodded a bit before letting out a sigh. Were her parents okay? What about Abygale? What about all of the others? Anything could go wrong, but she was only sitting in the same spot since it started because Micah told her about all of the things that could go right.

However, Marcy wasn't sure about the pocket knife weighing her pocket down more than it probably should've or about the small, wooden stake in the back of her waistband, covered by her sweater shirt. Micah had a similar one, but he didn't seem to be thinking too much on the fact that it was a weapon. It was simply for their protection, but it wasn't like either of them were actually going to fight.

"Aww, you guys are looking quite down!"

Everyone's heads shot up at the unrecognizable voice, seeing a small Exceed hovering in the air. His fur was a light beige and his eyes were quite a dark brown, and even though he was hovering, his wings were nowhere in sight. Everyone got to their feet and Marcy put her teddy bear off to the side, knowing that if Mira was walking around to the other side of the counter, a fight was probably about to happen. The Exceed seemed to notice because he stopped lounging in the air and straightened himself out, looking around the room. That's when his eyes landed on Marcy.

"Oh, hey! You're that other Exceed's daughter, right?" He asked, bringing himself down to hover in front of her. She took a couple of steps back, unsure of whether to answer or not.

"Which Exceed…?" Marcy asked softly, unable to raise her voice anymore than the volume it came out at.

"Dang, you know… The big shot! The small one who the main Seekers seem so interested in! Gray fur, sapphire blue eyes—you got it now?" He asked, making her nod in reply. "Man, you're lucky that you aren't with her right now!"

"Why's that?" Marcy asked with a big of a confused glare, making the Exceed in front of her chuckle. His grin flashed his vampire fangs and Marcy got a lot more nervous about his answer.

"One word, kiddo—death. Of course, it's not her who's died, but… A lot of my people certainly have. She's quite the killer, your dear Mom." He explained, gaining a shake of the head from Marcy.

"She'd only kill for good reasons. Your people probably tried to kill her." Marcy stated.

"Probably…"

Marcy didn't like the half-Exceed in front of her. He was getting on her nerves and she just wanted him to disappear into thin air and for nothing to have happened. He must've taken her silence as defeat because he chuckled again.

"You don't even know how she killed who she did…" He sighed a bit with his statement. "She stabbed John, let her buddy slit Robert's throat, and she bashed Larvy's face in while his group got shot. Hell, Rick got his throat ripped out! Now that was hilarious, but you know…"

Marcy tensed at every mention of something brutal, even if it was just slightly. She knew that those men must've deserved it. Her Mom wouldn't kill innocent people or let innocent people die, especially in the way those people did. She didn't even realize that she was grinding her teeth together out of anger until she let out a small sigh.

"You know, I was wondering—"

The Exceed didn't get another word out because Marcy had grabbed her stake from the back of her waistband and had stabbed him straight in the chest with it, causing him to let out a small gasp in shock.

"Wonder about that."

And just like that, the Exceed in front of her shattered. No one reacted and Mira seemed to sigh in relief that Marcy was okay before going around to the other side of the bar again. Marcy didn't move for a moment, but when she did, she bumped into Micah. He looked concerned.

"Are you okay…?" Micah asked softly. Marcy took a moment before nodding a bit, a pair of words popping into her head for some reason.

"Gotta be…"