Cassie carried Marcel out through the front door and they shut it behind them. Marcel collapsed to the ground once again and Cassie and he fell headfirst to the ground.

"We'll get out of here," Cassie told him. She kneels and checks his shoulder wound. She rolls him over on his side and discovers another wound in his stomach. This wound was larger than his shoulder wound and it was creating a pool of blood. "Your wound is severe, we'll need a medic."

"I'm going to die," Marcel told, "I fully expect that. I have nothing to live for."

The city shakes again as a reminder that the city was on the verge of collapsing.

"I should at least get you out of here." She picked up Marcel and dragged him away from the city. She reached the stairs that were placed in front of the rathole. She dragged him all the way up the stairs but just as she was about to crawl through, Marcel collapsed once more.

He clutches his stomach in pain and groans in discomfort. "It hurts," he cried, clutching his stomach like he was trying to push his falling organs back in.

"Once we get out of here, the Three Mercs could take you to the hospital."

Marcel sat up against the wall and put a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "I had no intention of escaping the city. I only wanted to get within range so I could talk with the Mercs on my radio." He reaches with his bloody hand to grab his walkie-talkie and presses the transmit button. "Three Mercs, if you can hear me, let the hostages go."

"What?" a voice came back immediately but Marcel was too exhausted to recognize it. "Let them go?"

"We lost," Marcel choked, "Drake is no longer important nor is she a threat. You are to release her allies."

"What about our money?"

"You're insured."

The voice started bickering about something but Marcel dropped the walkie-talkie and it fell down the stairs. Cassie quickly grabs it before it is out of reach.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?" the voice said with a hint of sadism, "Is this Cassie Drake?"

"Let Derek and my friends go," she demanded, "Marcel ordered their release."

"Where's Harris?"

"Heisenberg killed him."

"And where's Heisenberg?"

"I killed him."

"And Pavel?"

Cassie couldn't recall which one was Pavel. "He's dead as well."

Marcel choked upon hearing Pavel's name.

"And our fellow mercenaries?"

"Every single one of them is dead." She knew this for a fact.

"So Marcel is the last one?"

Oh my god, that's what I've been saying this entire time! "Yes."

"Okay…" the voice hesitated, "I guess we can work with that. Put Marcel back on the phone."

It's a walkie-talkie!

She tossed the radio into his lap. Marcel picked up the radio and said, "What do you want?"

"What's happening to the Philosopher's Stone and Ys?"

"They're both gone. I'm not going to make it. Remember, you are to release Drake and the others alive. If you kill them, I'll crawl out of the grave and kill you myself."

The mercenary was arguing once again but Marcel switched channels to silence the voice. He touched his stomach wound and studied the blood that coated his hand. He couldn't stand the sight of blood, he was always afraid of blood, even as a kid. Growing up, his parents, acolytes of Vita Longa, had a disguise in life as doctors, surgeons. They couldn't get a babysitter in time so they brought little Marcel to the hospital and he got curious and snuck a peek at his parents performing an appendectomy. He passed out immediately and he actually had to stay in the hospital to recover.

Blood was his biggest fear in life and even when he killed people during his time in the armed forces, he couldn't look at the blood. That's why he became a sniper; so he could stay away from the blood-spatter.

"I can't stand blood," he said to himself, his vision starting to blur. He looks towards Cassie with half-shut eyes and he points to his right. "Get out of here, the city is collapsing."

"I can still get you through," she said.

"No," he argued, "I want to die here. It was Vita Longa's goal to find Ys and I want to die in Ys."

He shoved her away when she put a hand on his shoulder. "GO!"

Cassie hesitated before she dived through the rathole.

Marcel watched the castle begin to collapse from the bottom than at the top. It leaned towards the right and the top hit the wall of water and caused the ocean to flood into the city and break the barrier.

Water began rising up the stairs where Marcel sat. His vision was getting blurrier by the second but with all his strength, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of him and the one person he loved.

"I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you how much I loved you." He stroked his crush softly.

His eyes close.

I'm sorry, Pav-

…

…

...

Cassie reached the end of the rathole and remembered that she had to swing across, used her grappling hook to achieve this, and barely reached the end of the lab.

She ran through the cave just as a tsunami flooded the lab with water and the city of Ys became a lost city permanently, sunken into the ocean as the myths said.

She reached the end of the cave and just barely made it out of the way as the ceiling collapsed and water seeped through the cracks of the debris.

"That was fun," she panted, "I should do this more often."

She collapsed to the ground after feeling something hammer in the back of her head.

"Did you forget about us?" Drei voice yelled through the tomb, "I'm insulted." He cocks his pistol and plants it to Cassie's temple.

"Don't think about it, Carter," Zwei raised his hand, "We have our orders to let Drake and the others go."

"We still have time to play around with these pathetic freaks for a while," Carter - Drei - reasoned, "I mean, I have no intention of killing her but I have to get back at her for drowning me in the fountain."

Zwei got angry. He shot a glare at Carter and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "That's enough," he growled, "Our job is done and I'm ordering you, as your big brother, to stop this ridiculousness."

Big brother, Cassie noted, They're siblings?

"Have many times have I had to say it, Beck?" he growled, "Don't patronize me just because I'm your little brother."

Both of their heads were hit from behind and left bruises. It was from Eins.

"Alice," Carter and Beck said, "WHY?"

The thief from the museum is named Alice?

"As the big sister to both of you, shut up!" She shouted in their ears and rubbed at their bruised heads. "We're leaving, we're already insured." She pushes both her younger brothers by the shoulders before offering a hand to the downed Cassie. "Call this redemption for attacking you in the museum."

Cassie grabbed her arm and remembered that these three mercenaries managed to outwit and outclass her. It was no use in trying to fight back, only to stay on their good sides.

"You guys make quite the sibling team," she said, hoping that flattery would do. "I'm curious as to where Derek and the others are."

Alice nodded in one direction. "They're in the van outside."

The three siblings escorted Cassie to the van outside the tomb where Beck and Carter opened the back to reveal the tied up friends inside.

The first person Cassie saw was Derek. Cassie smiled at the sight of her friend and she quickly grabbed at the gag in his mouth and free him.

"I'm glad you're still alive for me," she said, "It would've been lonely without you."

Derek was freed of his hogties.

Alice, Beck, and Carter stayed behind and watched Cassie free her friends. They whispered amongst each other.

"What are we going to do now?" Beck asked his older sister, "Our job is done so we have nothing to do."

"We just go back to our regular lives," Alice answered, "Go back to living life as civilians with the money we do have."

"We should split the profits," Beck suggested, "Carter and I get twenty-five percent while you get fifty."

"Are we supposed to just ignore Cassie Drake?" Carter asked, "They are our enemies after all."

"Enemies by mercenary's job," Alice reminded.

"I can hear you," Cassie said after she finished freeing Erkin and Joshua, "Since we're no longer enemies, let's just leave each other be."

The three siblings studied Cassie with caution. The three of them had glares on their faces with teeth showing. They tilted their head like dogs before the three nodded at the same time.

What's going on in their head? She wondered.

"Again," Alice began, "I'm sorry about breaking into the museum and beating you to a pulp."

"I could've beaten you any day," Cassie rebutted.