"I can see the look in your eyes Claude! That darkness within you, IT'S BEAUTIFUL! HAHAHAHA!" Marilith said, laughing at Claude. She then, began to cough up blood, but she still didn't stop. The battle raged for a long while and Marilith was already weak. Claude's body began to tremble and both Ailith and Erick looked at each other, then back at him.

"Hey! Don't let her get to you! She's just using that as a way to get you, can't you see that!?" Erick said, going towards Claude and shaking him violently. Claude didn't at all take his glare from Marilith as she just laughed and laughed.

"Claude! Claude can you hear me!? Claude come on! Sna-" Ailith was about to say, but was then cut off by Claude.

"...Shut up..." Claude said, not taking his eyes off Marilith. The energy radiating from Claude's weapon grew outstandingly stronger as his body trembled with anger. His eyes were full of rage and didn't stray from Marilith for even a split second.

"Claude..." Ailith said, putting her arms around him. He didn't stop trembling however, and his breathing became heavy.

"SHUT UUPP!" Claude yelled. Ailith jumped back, both out of shock and out of instinct as Claude charged towards Marilith. She blocked with the last of her strength, but to no avail. The energy from Claude's sword cut right through her own weapons, whatever was left of them anyway, and his blade went right through her stomach. Her hand drew his face closer to hers, and she whispered something to him, something that made him break even more.

"You look just...like...Master..." Marilith teased and then burst out into maniacal laughter.

"Shut up...SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Claude screamed, as he began to stab her into an unrecognizable pulp of flesh. Erick ran up to Claude and tried to hold him down. However this didn't at all stop Claude from further stabbing into Marilith's already bloodied and pulpy flesh.

"STOP IT!" Ailith yelled, punching Claude in the face and sending him flying. Both Erick and Ailith looked at him with wide and frightened eyes. Erick held Ailith's hand and nodded to her. He then, walked in front of her as they hesitantly approached Claude, who was trembling and groaning.

~~O~~

"What the hell is going on here? This...wasn't supposed to happen..." Amilia said, her eyes wide as she noticed Claude's energy from far above Mount Gulg. She just watched from afar as everyone slowly regained their senses.

~~O~~

Saria had her face buried in Leon's neck as he closed his eyes shut and kept chanting to himself "It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay."

Erick held Saria's hand and stroked it gently with his thumb. She felt this, and slowly pulled her head from Leon's neck. Leon slowly opened his eyes and they both saw where they were, immediately remembering what they had to do.

"...T-The Fiend. What happened to the Fiend?" Leon shakily asked. Erick and Ailith looked at each other, and then back to him with somewhat sad eyes.

"Defeated." Erick simply said and then put the subject straight back to Leon and Saria.

"I'm sorry that happened to you. The fire, I mean." Ailith said, holding Saria's hand and stroking it. Leon sighed and closed his eyes again.

"She started it. She burned it all down and...and everyone..." Saria said, her voice breaking and her body beginning to tremble again.

"Hey, hey. She's dead now. It's gonna be okay. When we're done with all this we can go on happily again. No more imbalance, no more of any of that. We'll all be alright okay? We'll get through this. We have to." Erick tried to reassure Saria and she nodded, however her mood didn't change at all.

"Where's Claude? Did something happen to him?" Leon asked. He noticed that all four of them were there except for Claude. He also noticed how dodgy Erick and Ailith were about him.

"...He's fine. Guys, we can't do this alone. The Fiend's defeated, so we need to restore the crystal." Said Erick. Leon nodded but he only took this as more proof. They were hiding something from the both of them that involved Claude.

"Take your time recuperating, we're not forcing you." Ailith said and both her and Erick got up. After a good walk away from Leon and Saria, the two went to Claude again. He was leaning on the wall beside Marilith, looking down with a morose expression.

"You alright?" Ailith asked, smiling at him. Erick stretched his hand in front of Ailith, stopping her, and walked in forward. Claude shook his head and sighed.

"I'm so sorry Ailith...Erick...I don't know what happened or what got into me. I just...I don't know. I've never felt that way before."

"Had a psychotic breakdown. Yeah, that's normal. I don't know what was associated with what she said that triggered it...but, rest assured Claude..." Erick said and then grabbed Claude's collar, pulling him close to his face.

"It won't happen again. Got it?" Erick said, his tone intimidating and serious.

"...I...I'll make sure it doesn't." Said Claude.

"Good. Make an excuse for Leon and Saria. They were wondering where you were, so don't make it seem suspicious." Erick said, sighing. As he turned around to leave, he stopped. Looking at Claude one more time, his eyes narrowed and left. Ailith walked towards Claude's side and sat beside him.

"Are you okay?" Ailith asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Listen...I'm sorry if I scared you there. I won't-agh...I-I won't let it happen again. I promise." Claude said, sighing and putting his hands over his face.

"It's okay. I just...would you mind telling me what happened?" Ailith asked. Claude's eyes grew wide and he gulped. Ailith put a hand on his shoulder and smiled, saying "I know about it. You don't think I've remembered more? I've meditated on the subject and...I didn't like what I saw. Far from liked actually. I just...don't know whether it was a memory or a vision...I was...hoping maybe you could tell me."

"Depends. What did you remember?" Asked Claude.

"Dying. I died. Again. And again. And again...We all did." Ailith said, looking down and frowning. She sighed and looked at Claude. She said "So can you tell me? Is it a memory or a vision of the future?"

"I'm not allowed to give too much away, but I'll tell you this...Both. Depending on whether I do this right..." Claude said, sighing.

"Do what?" Ailith asked. Claude just shook his head, got up and walked away. Ailith followed soon after, meeting with Erick and the rest.