I hollered and jerked till I was dizzy. I had to save her. She would NOT die because I was too weak to help. I had to save her.

But there was no way of escape.

I watched as we approached the trio, hearing the ice sharpen on my uncontrollable hands. They heard me, and three heads turned towards our direction. "Rundas?" Samus said, stopping. Gandrayda and Ghor froze as well. "Are you-"

"All right?" I breathed, my words actually making it out of my own mouth. Before, I was only able to speak inside my head, and Dark Samus was the single person who could respond and hear. Why did she let me? Was it some sort of... No! Couldn't be! "Absolutely not. Please- ack!"

I stumbled backward, Dark Samus 'tsk-tsking'. "Fool." I clutched my chest, suddenly my long-healed skewer wound was hurting. I felt numb, and breathed heavily. "Didn't I already say she couldn't help you?"

"Don't tell me what to do," I grumbled, the three hunters watching me. "I won't listen anyway."

She chuckled inside. "Attack them. Now."

"I said shut up!!" I was shouting aloud, and the others were watching me, poised for anything to happen. Ghor was scanning my body, his eyes glimmering red.

"Go!!" I was catapulted forward, almost as if Dark Samus had slammed me internally. My arm was raised above Gandrayda's head, iced sharp and deadly. "Dispose of the two. Leave Samus."

"No!! Look out, Gandrayda!!" I cried as I brought the ice knife down. She was still as stone, her eyes wide.

I closed my own and made my mark, but I didn't hear a tearing sound. I peeked, shocked as my hand was imbedded into Ghor's chest. He was standing in front of Gandrayda, with crimson surging from the scar. He didn't look like he was hurt, his face hardened into a scowl. I stared at the damage, gasping. "Ghor-"

"Argh!" He lashed out mightily, clocking me in the jaw with a vigorous fist. I heard a crack, splitting pain shooting up my face. "Stay off of Gandrayda, distasteful leech!!"

"Ow!" I held my mouth, looking just in time to see Ghor tackle me savagely. We rolled on the Phazon rich ground, with the Wotan punching me and shooting his plasma cannon at my limbs.

"I know what you've done to Rundas! You're not going to hurt anyone else, Dark Samus!" His blows were painful, and I considered fighting back. But I didn't, not wanting to deal any kind of damage than I already had to my friend. "What's the matter, monster? Too afraid to retaliate? C'mon!" he jeered, snarling.

Dark Samus was abruptly angry. "I'll show you, monster!" She pulled my legs back, kicking Ghor good in the stomach. His eyes went wide as he sailed away from me, landing with a heavy clunk next to Gandrayda's feet. "A little protective of the Jovian tramp, are you, Ghor? You should consider someone a tad less arrogant!"

The cyborg hawked a loogie at my feet. "Hold your tongue, dark hunter." He rested his head on the Phazon, closing his eyes in tire. "Hold your tongue... ugh..."

"These three are a little feisty! I'm glad I've targeted them," she readied herself for Gandrayda, who's clenched hands were shaking as she watched Ghor lay in pain on the ground.

The Jovian looked up, forming her body and changing into her copied form of me. I stared at the mirror image, the purple eyes across of me flashing with hatred. The other me ran forward, aiming frozen punches at me swiftly. I was forced to dodge by Dark Samus, and created ice armor around myself as quickly as I could. Gandrayda was grunting in my voice, teeth bared as her first whack was right on. Her icy knuckles collided with my throat.

I choked, dazed as I reverted my focus from dueling to breathing. Who knew she could hit so hard? Gandrayda came behind me, slinging her arm around my neck and hooking me in a headlock. Dark Samus fidgeted, making me jerk around. The fake Phrygisian laughed. "Don't even try!" My body went stiff as electricity shot through me. "Over here, Samus!"

The huntress came over, thrusting her left arm out. A bright blue beam came from her hand, latching onto my chest. She snapped her arm back, and my ice armor was tugged off me easily. "Ow!" I cried, Gandrayda wrapping her other limb around my stomach to hold my squirming steady. The Chromia in my nape wriggled again.

Gandrayda pulled me down to the ground, and there we both sat. Samus kneeled to my level, and Ghor crawled over with a strange device in his hand. "What are you doing?!" Dark Samus shrieked in mortification, watching the Wotan slowly place the machine onto my collarbone.

"Hurry!" I begged, the adversary within trying to bust out of my body. Ghor worked faster. It wasn't until she realized she was being slowly sucked away that Dark Samus actually succeeded in leaving me, and exploded from my front. She grabbed Samus forcefully and rolling over her onto the mutagen infested ground.

I slumped back into Gandrayda's Phrygisian chest, immediately fatigued. My mind was only centered on Samus's safety, but I was so beat that I had a hard time concentrating. I watched with a hint of blur Dark Samus place one hand onto the side of Samus's head, the other on the opposite side as well, and then her body glow.

All of a sudden I got my energy back, fueled only by adrenaline and pure rage at the sight of the dark hunter on my friend. I leaped up, pulse pumping, and stomped over to the female hunters. "Don't touch her!!" I yelled, bringing my now razor-edged arm down and through Dark Samus's back.

She gasped, her hand flying off of my comrades' helmet and to my hand in her chest. Her head twisted in my direction, and she aimed her gun at my face. Completely out of control of my own fury, I reached up, dug my fingers into the diabolical entity's head, and yanked with all my strength. I pulled Dark Samus's skull off, she uttering on last gurgled scream before her gory death. Gooey Phazon dripped from her cranium, flooding out of her neck and down her body. I sucked my blue slicked arm from her chest, and threw the two parts off the cliff edge we were standing on.

I turned my attention to Samus, and my heart almost stopped beating. Out of my pure ire, I had accidentally forced my sharpened arm too far, creating a hole in Samus's left, upper ribcage. My weapon had gone entirely through her organs, and blood was staining the cyan ground. She was breathing quickly, tracing the abrasion. "Oh no, are you all right?" I came to her, kneeling, sliding my hands gently beneath her back and lifting her to me. "You're gonna be okay. It'll be fine!"

Samus lolled her head to my face, sapphire irises weakening as my throat tightened. She opened her mouth to speak, but silence was the only thing she could muster. I shook her as her lids gradually covered her clouding eyes. "Samus! Samus stay with me! Samus!"

Slowly, the huntress's form went limp, and I heard her suit shut off, her body turning cold.

Time stopped for me. All I could do was stare at Samus's closed eyes, the blood that had ceased to percolate from her impaled heart, and her death colored skin. I did nothing else but hold her close to me, her head resting on my armor. I hugged her corpse as tight as I could without hurting, and allowed the tears to pour down my face. Gandrayda and Ghor had sat, hanging their heads as despair engulfed each of us whole. They too, were holding each other.

"Samus Aran is dead," the Wotan whispered, patting Gandrayda's back as she sobbed on his shoulder. "May she rest in tranquil peace, for her time in the galaxies made the extraordinary difference."

I reached towards the back of my neck, feeling the lump of the Chromia and the open scar that it was beneath. It shifted around. I hope this works. I'm not carrying on without you, Samus. I thought, digging beneath the plating and searching for something of the creature I could seize.

Soon, I found it, and pinched its tail between my fingers. It screeched, trying to shift away from me and further into my body. But I held strong, wrenching it powerfully from my neck with a tear of something in my head.

I went rigid and fell to the ground as my vision was overtaken by blank whiteness.