Warning once again for violence and gore!

"Bring it."

Ashley let the words come out of her mouth. She saw Mitch's pupils dilate before making a running start towards her. She bent her knees, bringing her body close to the ground before springing into the air.

The boy gritted his teeth, staring up at her as she said. "Just because I said it, doesn't mean I'm gonna let you go easy on me."

"A very interesting fight indeed~!" Him chimed. "I wish Jo was here to watch~!"

Mitch growled, springing up from where Ashley was floating. She slid out of the way before he could hit her and flew away. He followed quickly behind her, punching and kicking in her direction. She swiftly avoided every attack before she hovered above him and smacked the boy with her long hair.

"Don't let her tease you Mitch! Fight back!"

Ashley frowned. She hated that Him was hyping Mitch up. Was he just defending him because he was a boy? Or was he trying to get her to make some moves? She'll find out later.

"Aah!"

She shifted to see Mitch clutching onto her hair. The two of them make eye contact and he grinned wildly. She clenched her teeth and swiftly kicked him off of her, hitting his jaw. He backed up, blood dripping from his mouth.

He then moved his hands away, grinning at her like a madman.

Ashley backed up and started to think, her eyes remaining on the boy for a time.

All she needed was strategy and good timing. Sure she was a girl, but she was just as strong. She can handle beating him up after she pinned him. She just needed to think of how.

"Why are you just standing there Ashley?!"

She shifted out of her thoughts to really look at Mitch. His jaw was slightly detached, causing his mouth to stay open on one side. His eyes still looked like ones of crazed serial killers as the two looked at one another. Clara's blood from his clothes had dried from all of the movement but fresh blood dripped onto his top from his current injury.

He continued to smile as he asked. "Aren't you gonna fight me?"

Ashley floated there, staying absolutely silent and examined the boy's body. The most obvious place to go for was his jaw. It was detached, in the way, a nuisance for Mitch to endure and Ashley to look at.

"Answer me Ashley!"

Maybe that'll actually shut him up, she thought. I'm tired of him thinking he can just mess with girls without punishment.

She glanced over at Clara's corpse before turning back to Mitch just as he was ready to charge towards her. She readied herself and moved out of the way before he had the chance to hit her. She kept dodging as he kept trying to make blow after blow.

"Stay still!" Mitch yelled. "Why won't you stay still?!"

After a while, he stopped and Ashley moved back into position. She realized she was hovering above where she was earlier. She looked down at the other girl's body again before letting out a sigh.

She really wanted to cry for Clara, she really did. The sight of her body was just so depressing, so disgusting that she wanted her tears to just fall. She wanted to scream and shout and do everything in her power to take down Him and Jo, even though there were risks to that. But she couldn't.

Honestly she was scared to.

But like Ashley had told Clara all those months ago, they had to adapt to their situation. No matter the task, they had to do it without the fret of the consequences. They had to do it because their parents told them to, nothing more.

She could focus on grieving later.

Meanwhile, Mitch was starting to look agitated. Ashley had been dodging his attacks this entire time! And he had only got a hold on her once and it was grabbing her hair! He wanted to kill her just like Clara. He wanted to get out of here and rid the dome from his memory. He wanted to get out of these clothes, get out of this battle arena.

He just wanted to be clean.

Ashley snapped her head back to Mitch and noticed he was milliseconds away from punching her cheek. She grabbed his wrist before he even had the chance to touch her.

"Let...go of me!" he exclaimed. "Let me go!"

Ashley's eyes darkened. "Are you sorry?"

"What?" he blinked in disbelief.

"Are you sorry for killing Clara? Do you feel bad about killing her?" she then quickly added. "Answer honestly or I'll know you're lying."

Mitch blinked once more before he started laughing. Usually, this sort of laugh would be reserved for happier times. Like when you got your favorite toy from the store or you just heard a funny joke. Not when your in a dark basement and you had to kill your two adopted siblings. It sounded out of place and unsettling.

It made Ashley feel uneasy.

"Answer the question!" she snapped, really just wanting the laughter to stop. "Answer the question right now!"

Mitch glanced at the dead body before looking at the redhead again. His grin never disappeared, only shrinking slightly. "Yeah, I feel bad about it. Clara was our friend, y'know?"

Ashley frowned, twisting his arm slightly. He out of a little yelp of pain as she said. "Wrong answer. You don't feel bad about it at all."

She continued to twist his arm, little by little. Mitch continued to flinch and squirm to the pain as Ashley continued to add more and more pressure and more and more force. The sounds of bones breaking and rubbing against each other was apparent to her but she didn't care. She kept talking.

"You don't feel the least bit sorry for Clara. You would do anything to survive. Anything to feel as though her death was by someone else. You didn't do it, you're innocent. I would never do that to our poor sister Clara, right?!"

She let go of his arm and noticed how limp it had gotten. If was as if the arm was crushed by a press, appearing flatter than the other one. The bones were a jumbled mess inside of his flesh and muscle, sinking towards the bottom like sand in a swimming pool. The sight of it made both kids sick to their stomachs.

"Remember what I had told Jaiden?" Ashley asked, eyes never leaving Mitch's own. "Before I was adopted? I am helpful, polite, and have a sense of justice. And I know that when Clara was taken down by you, I knew that I'm not only doing this because of survival. I'm doing it because I want to avenge Clara. I want justice for her."

Mitch held onto his arm and backed up, nervousness and fear setting in.

"And if I have to kill you for it, then it has to be done."

Ashley lunged forward towards Mitch and made swift punches and kicks in his direction. The pain stemming from his arm was making him slower with his movements, will allow her to get some good attacks in. A couple punches to the gut, a quick kick to the head and he was on the ground.

Mitch collapsed against the cold metallic floor. He was right in the center of the dome, the light shining down on him like a spotlight. Ashley landed close to him, her pink eyes angry and upset.

She really didn't want to do this. She knew this from the get go. But it had to be done. She had to kill Mitch. For Clara, for herself, for Him.

Ashley glanced at Him and realized he was still grinning ear to ear. He wanted her to win, she just knew it. She was starting to understand it now. All he wanted was to see what buttons he can push to upset her, anger her. It had been working this entire time.

"Ash…"

Her eyes bounced back to Mitch, who was looking worse for wear. Not only was his arm a mess of bones and flesh but his clothes was now soaked in fresh blood thanks to the wounds Mitch had on his covered chest as well as the crimson liquid that dripped from his head. He was dying.

"Ashley…?" he cried out, his voice soft and raspy as he coughed.

She continued to stare at him, clearly paying attention to him. Mitch spoke once more.

"I...I-I…" he sniffled, fresh tears falling down his cheeks.

He started to look less like the monster she was fighting and more like the Mitch she knew from the orphanage. Normal and sincere, even if he was bad to a lot of the other kids.

"I'm sorry..."

Ashley nodded.

"I'm sorry for everything…" he sobbed. "I-I'm sorry for picking on you a-and Clara a-and H-Holly. I-I'm sorry Clara. I-I wanted to go back to the orphanage too. I-I didn't mean to be mean, I-I just-" he was a bawling mess. "I-I wanna hug Holly and apologize! I-I wanna r-roughhouse with J-Jaiden again. I-I wanna…"

"I know Mitch." she cut him off as he continued to cry. "I want to go back to the way things were too. But there's no turning back."

Mitch sniffled and Ashley looked into those eyes. The eyes of a scared child who was at death's door and unsure as to how to get in. A child who was remorseful and guilt driven by all of the horrible choices he had made through the duration of his time on this earth. A child who wanted nothing more than to go back to the good old days. Where there was no needles, no training, and no killing. Back in the orphanage.

She had the same wishes. But she already knew that they won't come true.

"On your feet." Ashley instructed. Her voice then softened. "Please Mitch, fight for your life with me."

"I don't wanna fight anymore!" he wailed. "I wanna...I wanna go to bed! I wanna the pain to go away!"

"It will. Just do as I say."

Ashley hated herself for saying that. Killing him was technically taking him to bed and making the pain go away. It just wasn't the pain-free way to go about it.

Mitch nodded, wiping his tears away with his good hand and standing upright. He seemed slightly disoriented, his eyes not entirely focused on Ashley and his legs wobbling. He had lost a bit of blood.

"Fighting stance." Ashley instructed.

Mitch nodded, shoulders squared and feet apart. He was still a little wobbly but the way he was will do for now.

Ashley smiled a little at him. She really wanted to reassure him, to tell him that everything will be alright. Even though she was going to kill him, she wanted him to know that there was no hard feelings towards them.

He smiled back, though it looked forced due to all of the pain he was dealing with. She understood and made her moves.

She punched and kicked his body and head, causing him to fall onto the ground. Before Ashley could say anything, he got back up. She smiled again for a second before her determined face returned and she kept attacking. A kick to the stomach, a punch on the cheek, another kick to the jaw. He fell with each attack but stood back up.

Ashley was thankful for this. She wanted him to stay strong up until his death. Not beat him to a pulp like he did with Clara.

Once Mitch was on his feet again, her movements became faster. There was less breaks in between to check and see how the boy was holding up. She just kept attacking. She wanted to see how far she could take this one sided battle before he died. Wanted to see when it became too overwhelming for his body. What would be the finishing blow.

Ashley stopped her attacks when she heard Mitch's skull shatter after a kick to the face. He had cried out in pain but it was more like a whimper at this point. She backed up a bit and eyed the damage.

Mitch was still alive, clinging onto life by the string. He was breathing through his nose now, his mouth seeping out blood and causing him to cough and sputter. His jaw was loosely hanging onto his face by all of his flesh. His legs were bruised but mostly fine.

She knew he could still stand up.

"Just…" he gargled, spitting out blood and hacking. "Just kill me alrea-"

Ashley cut him off, kicking him in the skull again. Harder this time.

Mitch went limp immediately after that kick landed.

Ashley looked at his body, examining it for any sort of life. His chest didn't rise or fall, he didn't move. He didn't gasp for air through his nose. He was gone.

He had died.

"Well done Ashley! I knew you could do it!"

She turned to see Him smiling at her. He was clapping his hands ecstatically in an applause, as if she had won the school's talent show. She had killed the kid he was donning over and he didn't care one bit.

Him tapped his chin. "You know, as it stands now, I don't think Ashley is a fitting name for you anymore."

Ashley wasn't paying attention to Him. She was simply staring at her fallen siblings. They had died because Him told them to. They died because they were forced to either kill each other or stay in his dome to die. They had died...and she was the last one standing.

Originally, Ashley wanted to cry, to scream, to just get out of there and not kill a single person. But that was not the rules of the game. She wasn't allowed to leave if someone else was still alive. She had to kill to survive. And now that she did it, she didn't know how to feel.

She felt almost nothing.

Almost nothing.

All she felt right now was hatred. Hatred for having to be pinned against Clara and Mitch. Hatred of having to see their lives get taken away and leave her all by herself. Hatred for the two men that had put them into this mess to begin with.

"Yes, Ashley is a dull name. A boring name." Him smirked. "You seem to rise to the occasion whenever we tell you to do something. You also seem to be a flower just blooming with knowledge and maturity." he snapped his fingers and pointed. "That's it. You're Blossom now! And this, is your new training uniform!"

Ashley turned to look at the other side of the dome. Right beside Him's smiling face was a sweatsuit that looked exactly like the one she was wearing now. The only exceptions being that it was pink and came with matching sneakers. And if she blinked, she could envision herself wearing it.

And it was stained with blood.

"So…" Him snapped Ashley from her thoughts. "What do you think Blossom? Do you like your new name? Your new uniform?"

She said nothing, glancing back the corpses before staring at Him.

She had read from a book that death signifies change. Whether good or bad, things won't ever be the same ever again. Four people had died in the span of several months. As the seasons change, her life had shifted as well. From being a booksmart child to being a superhuman created for destruction. Of who was yet to be determined.

Ashley stared at her uniform again before looking at Him once more. She didn't smile, nothing about this made her happy. She was just thinking about what the next phase in her life had in store for her. She was curious as to what comes next.

After a while, Blossom nodded. "I like it."