The steps back to the room were easy enough to trace. The lights were flickering, the alarms blaring. It was almost laughably easy for me to slip by unnoticed in the panic.

The witch was alone. Two dead galra soldiers lay on the floor.

Blades. Had to have been. Their blood was on Haggar, figuratively as well as literally.

I sent an order through the connection, putting the beasts on standby. I wanted to make the life leave her myself.

She turned as I entered; I got a glimpse of metal a split second before she fired the weapon, and the angel blade infused round hit me right between the eyes.

I would have let out a colorful string of curses as my body dropped limp to the ground, if I had had control of my vocal cords. Did the galra believe that it was a simple thing, just disconnecting me like a misbehaving xbox so that they can find a more convenient time to deal with me? There were organs to fix, heart to jumpstart, neurons to turn on, blood to replenish, a pulverized brain to repair! I'd wish for them to be vessel-needing organisms simply so I could kill them, and see how they liked the organic reboot, if I could.

I focused on the brain first, pulling all the senses back into working order. The blankness switched back into sight, the silence back into sound. It was impossible to quite explain what utter blindness is like. It's not dark like when you close your eyes. It is simply… nothing.

I hated it. But it wasn't as bad as darkness.

The heart kicked back on and began to beat, sending oxygenated blood back through the system again. The blood began to bleed, again, from the hole the round had left, but it was only another moment before it healed over.

I forced myself up to my feet and lunged at the witch without pause, who had made a fatal mistake of turning her back to an angry archangel(ish). I grabbed the wrist holding the weapon and twisted sharply, my grip crushing the bones beneath them.

Haggar let out a beautiful shriek. Her eyes were wide as I twisted her face sharply to meet mine, her face one of beautiful, tantalizing terror. I hesitated, not out of mercy but of savoring the moment.

"What? No- no, you were out longer last time- you-"

I spread my wings out. The lights flickered around us, the shadows of my wingspan dark against the walls behind me.

Inside me, a voice screamed for me to stop. I couldn't kill her. I couldn't just kill someone-

The rest of myself trembled with excitement at the drops of galran blood beading out of her skin as I dug my nails deeper and deeper into her face. Why can't I? Who says I cannot?

She's right here, isn't she? Killing is a much better solution to a problem. Much more permanent.

And maybe, when I am finally free of these wards, I'll bring her back just to kill her again. Maybe a neverending loop. Yes. Yes, that sounded absolutely delightful. Why settle for only one way to kill the bitch when I can choose them all?

"Haggar," I hissed. I grinned, a manic giggle slipping past my clenched teeth. "Hiya, Haggar~"

Pure panic flooded through her, flooding my senses everywhere I touched her. It was spectacular. Rejuvenating. So many ways to punish her, to make her suffer, and they all flicked through my mind like a strobe light, off and on and off and on and-

I leaned against her, shoving her against the wall, just to feel her fear zapping against my skin. I leaned my head to her ear and grinned wider.

"I am free."

"You are cocky," she whispered. Her eyes drifted away from me as I pulled my head away from her pointed ear. She threw herself backwards, hitting something against the wall that clicked when she hit it. Behind us, something hissed.

An orange and flickering glow alit, reflected off of her eyes, and I turned my head to look upon the room where Haggar kept the vials of Grace. My siblings were burning. She was destorying their remnants.

Haggar shoved me away and bolted. I turned towards her for a sickening moment, lost as I looked from the remains of my siblings to her. I screamed, then, a torn and feral roar, before my body made my mind up for me and moved without thought.

I turned and darted for the small room, tripping over myself in my haste. There was a sort of glass, blocking me out, mocking me, the solid wall having slid back just to let me watch my siblings burn. I braced myself and slammed my shoulder into it.

There was an awful thudding sound, but it didn't give. I shook myself off and did it again. Then again.

Again and again, I threw myself against it. And all the while, the vials burned within.

"Come on," I growled. I clenched my hands into fists, my very being burning. My body began to burn as my Grace heated up, my Grace choking against the wards. Skin glowing and blistering with ethereal light, I took a step back before throwing myself against the barrier one last time.

The cracks that had formed crackled and shattered, the wall coming down around me as I fell into the flames.

Failed portals appeared and dissipated around me, useless in my frantic grasping at the vials around me. Many had already shattered, Grace leaking free into this dimension.

Broken vials shattered further as I tossed them aside in my frantic rush. Dead Grace seeped through my fingers when I grabbed for it. Finally, my fingers closed around a single, unbroken vial of Grace. I held on tight and stilled amongst the flames, cradling the lone vial to my chest. Flickers of a life now gone sputtered against my hold, a single rush of happiness striking through me. A strike of emotions so positive and strong that it struck through my frantic terror, and I almost expected to feel the presence of the angel before realising the static edge to the brief rush of emotions.

Vohamanah. Angel of Optimism.

Or who used to be, I suppose. There was no angel of Optimism anymore.

Something grabbed hold of me and yanked me out of the fire, sharp talons biting into my skin. I landed hard on my back, tossed like a ragdoll, and I barely managed to keep the vial safe.

Arioch loomed above me. I tensed up, but he stepped over me and started towards the door.

I pulled myself up to my knees, still clinging to the remnant. Arioch had barely gotten a foot out the door before I stood and rushed past him.

"Left," Arioch said. "I think she went left."

I turned left. My feet slapped loud against the floor. I nearly fell into the wall trying to turn, shoving myself off against it. Arioch matched me step for step, helping me find my way. A demon helping an archangel. What a sorry state, we were.

I caught a glimpse of her as I burst in through an open door into a room full of monitors and technology. She spared me a sneer before she was gone.

Keith stood motionless in the room, clutching something tightly within one fist. He looked… I wasn't sure what sort of expression it was that he wore.

"Keith?"

He blinked, then took a deep breath. His unnaturally purple eyes bit deep into my own gaze before he broke it, looking away, mouth twisting into a frown.

My rage had begun to seep away. I almost reached forward, to grab onto his shoulder. To be able to understand how he was feeling, disguised as an action to comfort. I let my hand fall back to my side instead.

"Lance-" he shook his head- "no, nevermind. Come on. We have to get out of here."

"Need you even say?" Arioch asked. "Idiots. Let us leave this hell substitute."

Keith had managed to find his clothes, at some point. He shoved whatever was in his hand into a pocket on his jacket without even looking at me, then handed me a pile of my own clothes.

"We need to find out what's going on, and find our armor and bayards," Keith said.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah-" Keith still didn't meet my eyes- "everything is fine."

"You sure, mullet?"

Keith flinched. Barely there, but I picked it up nontheless.

"I'm fine," he said.

I reached out to him but he brushed past me, a one man forestfire, burning down the hall. Away from me.

The shadowbeasts returned to my shadow, silent. I checked their emotions and found only apathy.

Arioch bumped his shoulder into mine as he passed, the rotten smell of sulfur burning my nose.

"Come on, archangel," he hissed. "Let us leave this place behind. Truce still stands?"

"Truce still stands."

The halls were surprisingly empty. Keith walked with purpose, despite most likely not knowing where the hell he was going. We stumbled across the room soon enough (only because Nerezza and Erebus scouted for me, and I then herded our sorry trio towards the room containing our things), and scrambled back into our armor. I was hesitant to slip the vial into my armor, but it was either that or risk crushing it between my fingers should we meet trouble.

And I very much expected trouble. It felt comforting, at least, to have my bayard back in my hand.

We made to leave the room, and Arioch pulled both Keith and I away from the doorway just before a handful of galran soldiers passed by. We waited a couple minutes before returning to the hall. I had no idea where we were going, but Keith seemed fake confident enough for all of us, moving down hall after hall and past room after room without hesitation, so I was more than happy to allow him to take the lead.

Our luck ran out when we turned right into a group of galran soldiers. Our two groups stared at each other for a moment before they raised their guns and we prepared ourselves to lunge.

Before anyone could do anything, a shot rang out from their side. The galra leading the charge looked confused, for a moment, before falling forward. They hesitated, for a moment, and in that moment, their attacker shot them all down.

Rhakon stood alone, now, surrounded by his squadmates. He looked blank, breathing heavily as he dropped his gun and stared at what he had done.

I rushed forward before anyone else could reach him, grabbing onto his hand and yanking him with me with just enough force not to hurt him.

"Let's go! They'll swarm towards the sound, and we have to be anywhere but here when that happens!"

I pulled him a couple steps before he started moving by himself, grip tight on his weapon as he raced along only steps behind me. I glanced back only once, but Arioch and Keith were close behind.

Rhakon's face smoothed over into one of distance and determination. He burst forward, leading the way, hand still in mine.

"Fighting heaviest near the breach points," the galra said. "Braving the fighting would be a death sentence. Humans underfed, the sekchen likely exhausted. We'll make for a fighter."

He halted our ragtag group, pulling us down a different hall. Behind us, several sentries raced past without managing to notice us. Rhakon led us back into the hall and rushing on our way once more.

Rhakon evaded us past soldiers and sentries alike, rattling numbers off as he went. Arioch and Keith, fortunately, stayed silent, and for the few rare times Rhakon missed a stray percentage of whatever was going on in that furry head of his, Nerezza and Erebus alerted me.

The bay was large and looked almost like the ship version of a ghost town, with only a few sparse ships still here. It was a sharp contrast to the ship I had attacked, filled with smaller fighters and scouts in its hanger. Some semblance of guilt almost managed to form at the thought of that ship, but it never made it further than a surface thought.

"It responds to galra," Rhakon said. "One with me, one with the paladin of the red lion."

I nodded and headed for one, only to stop. Instead of walking right alongside me, Keith was hesitating, looking between Arioch and I.

"Keith?"

After a long moment, Keith's frown deepened. Tapping his fingers nervously against the hilt of his bayard, he turned towards me and followed.

I frowned as well and gave the vial of grace a worried squeeze before following Keith into the fighter.

Haggar still lived, but I had more information now than I had before. I slipped into a seat and leaned my head back, finally able to breathe again, and let Keith slip into the pilot and ease the fighter into working for its new owners.

He didn't say anything to me. That was fine. I was too exhausted for a conversation anyways.