Cyra POV

I didn't make it far before I was stopped by giant stone warriors, obviously sent by Wuya to bring me back, not wanting to chance anything.

I glared at them, though I had expected something like this to happen. I pulled out my twin knives from my back, and jumped at them, hitting their weakest points such as joints and cracks in their oversized bodies. Sometime I got a limb or two off, but they always grew back, wasting my efforts. I quickly evaded their blows, trying to think of whatever I could to win against them, but I was at an extreme disadvantage. I knew once I got tired out, it was over.

Then in a flash, Raimundo jumped out of a vortex created by the Golden Tiger Claws, and approached me.

"What are you doing Cyra? Are you crazy? Wuya owns the world now! Why would you leave now when you can have everything that you want?" He questioned me, thoroughly confused.

"You wouldn't understand. I can't stay here." I replied bitterly, not bothering to beg to be let go, knowing my plea would only fall on deaf ears.

"It makes no sense!" Raimundo said puzzled, and then continued by beckoning his stone soldiers forward to keep attacking me. I knew I was wearing out fast… My breath became short and my hope became slimmer as well.

Soon I wasn't able to dodge all the attacks the stone men threw at me, and I crashed to the ground, bruised, and mostly beaten, but never able to give up.

"What are you fighting for? Do you think Wuya ruling the world is a bad idea? Are you going to the good side now?" He asked. I didn't answer, but kept fighting desperately.

"What, are you going back to Jack because you like him?" He continued, getting annoyed by my silence. I knew I couldn't tell him my secret. He wouldn't understand, and it was something I had never told anyone before, or ever had planned to.

"Answer me!" He yelled, just as I was thrown to the ground again, barely able to move from exhaustion and the thorough beating.

I was quiet as I attempted to get back up… fighting against my weak limbs and ragged breath. Raimundo then walked up to me, standing over me still waiting for an answer.

In a last minute desperation attempt, I jumped up and spin kicked him away, using up the last of my energy for that final resistance. This made him angry, however, and he ran back and kicked me right back down in a vengeance. I couldn't fight anymore after that, and slipped out of consciousness as the stone monsters closed in on me.

I woke up in a stone cage in the dungeon of Wuya's castle, chained up. I mentally sighed, knowing all along that something like this would happen.

Wuya was insanely powerful, and anyone else in my shoes would have realized this and stayed, getting everything they wanted instead of rebelling against the ultimate power. No wonder Raimundo was confused by my stupid decision.

I sat there for hours, still aching from the beating I had suffered a little while ago. I could have sworn something was broken, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

My mind began to drift off, wondering what would happen now. Would I rot in this dungeon for the rest of my days, succumbing to my ancestor's fate by being unable to search for the Incense of Existence? Would Wuya let me out, giving me another chance? Would I die here alone..?

There was no way out… and hope was just about dead. I closed my eyes in defeat, still wanting to believe that Omi, Kimiko, Clay, and Jack would be able to stop Wuya somehow… But doubting it deep within. Was it really over?

Then I heard the sound of a door opening nearby, and a light flooded the dark corridor. It was Raimundo, and he walked up to me silently, arms crossed and hood up, looking me over with pity.

"You know it didn't have to be this way, and it still doesn't." He muttered.

"Once again, you don't understand anything." I replied sharply, angry at him for things that weren't even his fault. The fault was all mine… for everything, and I knew it.

"Then tell me already! What good will it do you now? What do you have to lose?" He mocked, grabbing hold of the bars in my cell in frustration.

I ignored his questions, and stared down at the stone floor.

"Please Cyra." Raimundo whispered, in pure concern. It was a look I hadn't seen from him ever before, and nothing close to what he had been like ever since joining the Heylin side. The way he looked at me in that moment broke me down, and everything I had worked so hard to lock up was unraveling.

The truth was… I was so tired of hiding everything from everyone I had ever been or wanted to be close to. No one would ever understand the curse I had to bear, and it had never hurt so much…

Because ever since I had joined the fight for Shen Gong Wu… I did something that I never thought I would. I made friends… people I wanted to share things with, and really connect. I knew I couldn't keep it in much longer, especially for the person in front of me that I had always felt irrationally drawn to. Tears slipped down my cheeks as I sat in the cold cell, feeling so conflicted and unsure of myself… unsure of everything I was holding in.

When he saw this, he rushed into my prison and quickly unchained me, holding up my face with his hands and staring into my eyes. "Tell me what's wrong." He said gently.

My hands drooped to my side as I told him about my family curse… That I was looking for one Shen Gong Wu in particular, and was never allowed to rest until I found it. I told him about the fate of my grandmother, and the death of my mother, all so early on in my life. I told him my desperation and determination to free the Athalia family for all time, and being able to really live.

"I had never realized how blessed it was… To find someone you care about. I never felt that deep… I was never allowed to, but now that I do… I see. I understand why breaking this curse is so important, so I can live. I get why my mother gave up the search, and spent what little time she had with my father… She gave up her life to live it, and I never knew why before now." I explained still crying, but feeling some spare pieces lying around my heart fall into place.

With that, I looked back up at him, and saw him looking so deeply at me. He didn't say a word as he reached for me, both of us sitting on the stone floor, and pulled me close to him. He held me silently in his arms, and I hesitantly took hold of him, and shakily held on tight, burying myself into him, weeping uncontrollably. How good it felt to let go of my secret and to let someone else in.

It took a few minutes for me to calm down and stop gasping tearfully, but he waited patiently until I pulled back and looked into his eyes. He smiled gently, and grabbed my hand, leading me up the stairs and back into his room. We both sat down on a couch in there, and I just sat there, with one of his arms around me, feeling so peaceful with my eyes closed. Before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep, feeling safer than I ever had before despite living in a world ruled by evil that I had helped create.