Listen to them, follow their orders, don't fight back, those were the three rules that Lysithea spent her entire life following. For as long as she could remember the stone walls of her cell and the cold table the mages in the beak like masks operated her on were home. Her only companions were the children that shared the cell with her.

According to the mages, some of them were related to her by blood while others were simply the children of the workers in the House. That didn't matter to her. All they had was each other, they were the only family she had. However, as the time passed they would disappear one by one until there were only five of them left.

She had to protect them; she wouldn't lose anymore. It was her turn once more and she wouldn't hesitate as they took her out of the room and led her to the operating table. She was the oldest, the strongest among them. The more they operated on her the less time they had on them. That was the way in which she protected them.

They didn't bother strapping her to the table, they knew how obedient she was, and began with their work. First a sample of her blood, taken through a needle. Then they injected something into her. Red, blood most likely.

The same as it always was and yet for some reason this time something was wrong. There was something different about the blood this time. It hurt her. Her entire body felt like it was burning. She could no longer ignore it she began to thrash and screech out in pain.

The pain, the burning, it didn't just hurt, it infuriated her. For years on end they had experimented on her, until it was all she knew. How dare they do this to her. How dare they take her life away from her!

Lysithea grabbed a scalpel and jumped one of the mages. She stabbed him in his neck, then his mouth, then his eye.

Anger, rage, vengeance. That was what drove her as she swung her weapon down and down again.

Another of the mages grabbed her from behind, in an attempt to pull her of her colleague. She replied by blasting him back with a bolt of dark magic. She then gathered the energy into a fist and used that to blow off his arm. She then went for a leg, then the other arm. It was only after he was left limbless and screaming would she finally silence him with a blow to her head.

Lysithea then returned to the man she had been stabbing and buried her scalpel into his face once more. She stabbed and stabbed. It was only till his face was a bloody mulch that she finally stood up and made her way out of the room.

She huffed and forced herself to stand up. It wasn't enough. They would all pay for what they did to her. Another man entered the room only to die by her scalpel

Two other appeared in the hallway she entered. They too died to her magic.

Everything and everyone that appeared in front of her died. Pain, anger, fear, everything that she had felt she would repay in kind to anything that stood in front of her.

Eventually she arrived at the cell where she had been kept. Where all her siblings were.

With a single hand she blew open the door and walked inside.

"Lysithea!" one of the girls shouted. Some cowered, others looked at her in awe.

Lysithea walked up to one of the boys and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you going to save us?" he asked.

Lysithea drove her scalpel into his stomach. She turned the blade dragged across his belly and disemboweled him where he stood. His blood and organs fell onto floor before his body did.

One of kids screamed in fear. They ran for the door behind her. Only their head would make it outside, rolling to the ground in a smoking heap. Any that ran would be struck by her magic and those who cowered would be cut up by her scalpel.

One girl tried to protect her face, so Lysithea decided to carve it out for her. To preserve the beauty that she valued so much and hang it on a wall.

She was inevitable and she would only stop once the life had left their bodies. Once they stopped breathing and their blood flowed from the corpses.

Lysithea stood in the center of the room as the blood from all their bodies poured and gathered up in front of her. She looked down at the reflection in puddle and saw her true face.

A skull as pale and white as death with a pair of piercing red eyes coming from its sockets.

For she was Death itself and death would come to them all.

Lysithea's eyes shot open and she sat up in a fright. Sweat covered every inch of her body as she grabbed her chest and tried to calm her frantically beating heart.

It was a dream. Just a dream. She hadn't killed them; they had been killed by those mages because of their experiments. The same mages that had captured her. It wasn't her fault. It couldn't be her fault. She was just another victim, the one person that couldn't be blamed, who was now going through that torture once more.

Except… rather than laying on the cold stone floor, she was now in a clean and soft bed.

Lysithea finally took stock of her surroundings and realized that she wasn't in her cell anymore. She was on a bed in the school's infirmary surrounded by curtains. The room was bright and there was sunlight coming from a nearby window.

"What happened?" she asked herself as she looked down and saw that underneath the gown she wore. She had been treated, her wounds had been healed and her body had been covered in bandages.

"I see that you're awake." The curtains were pulled aside to reveal Manuela behind them. "I was getting worried that you wouldn't wake up."

Lysithea took a minute to process Manuela's presence, a welcome sight in all honesty, before finally speaking. "How did I get here? When did I get here?"

"Catherine and Shamir were the ones to find you a week ago. Though they certainly had a lot of help from your Professor and Blue Lions."

"They saved me?"

"They did. You and another student that disappeared around a year ago. Why do you sound so uncertain about that?"

"I just… I thought I was going to die down there." Or spend the rest of her life as their captive and the Death Knight's plaything. Not that she had much life to spend now anyway.

Five years. That was the actual time she had remaining. By all rights she'd only be spending a single year or two as an adult if she was lucky. In all likelihood she would die a child… a helpless and useless child with so many goals that she failed to accomplish.

"They would never have let that happen. Neither Catherine nor your Professor."

"I should go thank them then." While she still could that was. She tried to get out of her bed only for Manuela to reach over and push her back into place.

"I had it pretty bad. It still hurts where that damn Death Knight stabbed me and I only was able to start working again recently. You on the other hand had it much worse." Manuela pointed at the bandages all over her body. "You don't have to tell me what they did to you but it's clear that it was terrible."

"… It was"

"Which is why you need to stay in bed and recover. Don't worry your Professor and Catherine have been visiting you every day for the last week."

"They were visiting me?" Would they still value her the same when they realized that she would hardly live long enough to be of use to them now?

"Yea."

"I need to get out of here." They didn't need to know. She could still repay them for what they did. She just had to work hard even harder from now on. Twice as hard, no three times as hard. She couldn't afford to stop even as her body wasted away.

"If you force your body now, you'll end up bedridden for another week."

"I don't have much time left! I can't waste any of it!" She only had five years left. Not ten. Her life had been effectively in half. There was still too much that she still needed to be done.

Manuela raised an eye. "Five years?"

Lysithea choked on her own breath. How many people knew at this point? "How do you know?"

"The Death Knight made quite an announcement about it, of course Hanneman was the one to confirm it to me once I confronted him about it."

"Who else knows?"

"I was able to convince the Blue Lions that the Death Knight meant that he was coming after you in five years not that you were dying. The Golden Deer on the other hand… they didn't seem very convinced when I told them that."

"Well… most of them know at this point. I'm dying and I have even less time than I thought I did."

"That can't be easy… though I'm still mad at Hanneman for keeping this a secret from me. How dare he hide something so important about one of my precious students?"

"Please don't be mad at him. I begged him to keep it a secret."

Manuela huffed. "He could've at least told me to keep an eye on you. There were plenty of ways I could've helped."

"I don't think you can help me…. Nobody can."

"I don't know much about Crests but I do know how to keep someone healthy." Manuela put a finger to her chest. "A proper diet, a good attitude, and regular checkups from a doctor might be able to extend your life by a few more years."

"The mages that experimented were quite certain I only had five years. I have to assume that that's all the time I'll have left. Which is why I have to be in a hurry to get things done."

"They lied to you before and they certainly don't have the expertise I have when it comes to taking care of my patients. So, who would you believe? Me or them?"

"They experimented on me for years. They probably know my body more than I do at this point, I have to-"

Manuela suddenly leaned over, grabbed Lysithea by her shoulders, and gave her a look that chilled her to her very core. "Who do you trust more? Me or them"

"… You?"

"Exactly." Manuela stood up straight with a satisfied smile on her face. "Don't let what they say bother you. I can assure you that I'll make sure that you live a long life just to spite them. The Death Knight though… I want to drive a sword through his stomach for what he did to me."

"… Get in line."

"See? You're feeling better already. I'd say you're ready for visitors, you got quite a lot of them waiting for you."

"Who wants to see me?"

"Your Professer, Flayn, Seteth, your classmates, and a few of the Blue Lions once they know you're awake."

"Could we do them one at a time?" That was a lot of people that wanted to see her. She was certainly grateful that they all cared but she wasn't sure if she could handle all of them at once.

"Of course, don't want to crowd you while you're still recovering. I'll let Seteth know first since his office is nearby and I can have Jeralt send the message to the Professor."

"That sounds good."

Manuela left the room leaving Lysithea to herself.

She looked at her reflection in a nearby mirror. Her face was hers and her white hair had been showing through her roots once more. What she had seen before while she was asleep, that was all a nightmare. A very disturbing nightmare granted, but none of it had actually happened. It was just the result of the trauma she had went through, nothing else.

"Is there something you wish to see?"

Lysithea turned to Seteth who now stood at the doorway. "Just making sure I remember who I am."

He entered the room and sat down on a chair next to her bed. "I understand… we can often lose sight of who we are as people."

"You got here pretty quick."

"I wished to see you… and to give you my gratitude. You saved Flayn. She means the world to me and I could never repay you for that."

"I was just doing the job you gave to me."

"You've done than I could've ever asked for. Too much in fact… which is why I also wish to apologize to you. For everything that you had to go through while you were captured by those men. My ineptitude is to blame, and I can't imagine what you had gone through as their captive."

"It wasn't your fault. I don't think any of us could've been prepared for that."

"It should've been my responsibility to bear though… not yours… I know it must make you uncomfortable but is there anything that you remember about the people that captured you? What they looked like or anything they might've said."

"I don't remember much of what they did to me… just that it caused me a lot of pain." There was haze in her mind whenever she tried to recollect what had happened to her during her capture. They had said something to her, something important, but she couldn't remember what it was.

"I apologize. You should never have gone through that and I shouldn't force you to recollect such events."

"It's fine… what I do know though is that they're same people that experimented on me as a child," she gripped her blanket tightly. "The same ones that killed all of my siblings and the ones who left me with this death sentence."

"I see."

"You don't seem very surprised."

"I had my suspicions that at one point they would go after Flayn. Unfortunately, my precaution wasn't enough."

"Why were they after Flayn?"

"Flayn possesses a rare bloodline, one that they and many others would seek to acquire themselves should they know of it…"

"I figured. They sounded disappointed when all they got was me. I was another one of their failed experiments that they tossed away."

"I can assure that I and many others here care for you and see the value in you."

"Oh no, I actually preferred it when they thought I was a failure. It made it a lot easier for me to stay out of their eyes... until now at least. Having the Death Knight stalking me and the Professor isn't something I look forward to."

"I've heard he has a frightening fascination with the two of you. I'll try to do what I can in the Monastery but the two of you along with the rest of the students should exercise caution from now on."

"What about you? You and Flayn are siblings after all, do you also have a special blood to be worried about?"

"My blood is special though it is quite different from hers."

"How so?"

Seteth hesitated for a moment. "Considering all you've done for us, perhaps you should know the truth of our situation."

"And that is?"

"Flayn is-" before he could finish though a bundle of green hair rushed into the room much to their surprise. "Flayn! This is-"

"Lysithea!" The girl looked close to crying as she made her way to her bed. "I heard you had been rescued but I thought you'd never awake."

"Why would you think that?" Lysithea asked.

"Because I saw what they did to your body… the terrible things they must've done to you. I was worried it might take you decades to heal."

"Flayn…" was all Seteth could muster.

"I can assure you that I will not need that much time to recover, not that I would even have it in the first place."

"But still… it must've been painful, and it was because of me that you went through all of that!"

"It wasn't your fault."

"But they were after me and I was the one to bring you and Felix to such a remote location!"

"It still wasn't your fault. We had no idea that that would happen. If you're going to blame someone then blame the people that went after us not yourself. I can assure you that they will pay for everything they've done."

Flayn paused upon hearing the rancor in Lysithea's voice. "Are you truly going to hunt them down?"

"I will. I won't rest until they're all dead."

"But surely there is more to your life than vengeance?"

"I can't just ignore them after everything they've done. Once House Ordelia is dissolved, I'll use whatever time I have left to hunt them down." Lysithea would hunt them down. That was all she would be good for once House Ordelia was dissolved. The thing… the monster that they created would be what finally destroyed them

"I beg you to reconsider," Seteth said. "After everything that has happened, I'm sure that your parents would want to see their daughter live in peace and comfort rather than devote it to vengeance."

"I can't live in peace while they're still alive. They're still out there kidnapping people and performing their experiments on them. I simply can't sit aside while others suffer the same way that I and my siblings did. I can't live a life in fear that they'll come for me again."

"You're shaken after what happened, I understand that, but I can assure that we are devoting as many resources as possible to hunt them all down."

"How long will that take though? How many more people have to suffer before something changes? You two and the rest of Monastery likely have full lives to look forward to. I don't and I need to work with the time I have left."

"Then at least spend that time with those you love. I can assure you that spending the rest of your life with the love and comfort of your family is not time that is wasted."

"And how many more families will end up like mine by the time they're done?"

"I can't say… and no parent should have to bury their child, but I can assure you that yours will still want to spend whatever time you have left with you. They would wish for you to be happy rather than spending the rest of your life seeking vengeance."

Lysithea stayed silent. Seteth was right. Her parents never expressed the same desire to avenge her siblings like she had. They only ever wanted to spend time with her.

"Brother is right," Flayn replied in desperation. "Vengeance will not bring you happiness. Please do not devote your life to blood and battle. There are other things that you can do to help others and be happy yourself."

"For the time being you are still a student." Seteth continued. "Take this time to reconsider and think about what you wish to do. Once you've graduated… then I'll accept whatever decision you make."

"… I will," Lysithea eventually replied. She would think about it, with the time that she had left.