In a flash, Cassandra found herself removed from Milo's castle and standing in a dull, grassy field. She recognized it as the same field from when she had first arrived in Locwitary. The sky above was still as gloomy as it was when she opened her eyes. The plains stretched on for such a long distance. The forests were nothing but a green line at the end of the landscape. If Alcina was supposed to be here, she did not see her.

Lia's hand, still tightly gripped on Cassandra's, began to loosen up as the fawn surveyed their surroundings. She seemed somewhat tense as she scanned around. She had to have been worried about Alcina, the brunette thought. Given that she had arrived in Locwitary with her claws out, there was no telling what damage the woman was capable of.

With her mind still too preoccupied with the truth that she had just learned, Cassandra could not find herself caring too much about how that wretched woman had managed to retain some of her abilities. All she wanted to do was confront her and get answers.

Where are you? I know you must still be out here…

Cassandra, eyes sharp and teeth bared, stared ahead as she addressed Lia. "I don't see her."

The fawn looked around with her hands in front of her chest. Particles of blue light flickered from her palms and fingertips. She closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as she could.

The warm, gusty wind blew across the fields, swaying the hordes of grass as it glossed over them. With her hood down and scar on full display, Cassandra's remaining locks of hair adopted the same pattern. She could feel the air along the shaven spots on her head. The bare skin of mutilation performed in the conquest of control. It was the reason why she was here in the first place.

Not just in this field, but in this world. The life she had been forced to live and the choices that followed during its course.

I want you to see everything that you have done to me.

"Lia…anything?"

A couple of seconds of silence occurred before she lowered her arms. She took Cassandra by the hand again. "I can barely sense her, but I can feel her presence further down that way." She pointed ahead to the open land that was still visible but had to have been a half-mile away. "Close your eyes."

Her vision shifted to black as her body dispersed into nothing, only to re-form once more. Cassandra parted her eyelids and gazed at the landscape again. It was harder to see the surrounding area now due to the presence of berms and other hills. Alcina had to be close by. Lia had explained just before their arrival that her ability to sense individuals was far from perfect. She relied on the very core memories of Alcina herself that were somehow linked to Cassandra's to even narrow in on her location. The influx of energy from the crossing of realms helped, but for some odd reason, Alcina had gone under the radar.

It was not precise by any means, but it was a start.

Lia released her grip on Cassandra's hand and pointed up the hill. "Follow me. She should not be far."

It took everything in the brunette to keep her from saying anything about harming Alcina. She did not want to give Lia cause for alarm, though she was sure that her companion knew what she wanted. Her heart was still pumping at a breakneck pace. Ever since she sat down and viewed the memories of her past, the amount of stress inside her body had been brought to levels that were previously unimaginable. She had no clue how she was even standing or walking right now.

Minutes ago, she was a torn and broken woman on the floor, crying her eyes out. She had never felt such immense sadness before. Something inside her had to have broken, like when the body's nerves endured so much pain that all feeling comes to a complete halt.

Her thoughts began to tunnel, thinking only about Alcina. If she thought about her real family or the wrongs that had been committed against her and the other two ladies who were forced to become her sisters, she would likely fall onto the grass and back into the same fit of sorrow.

Those thoughts could not be allowed to birth any form of weakness. She had to be strong. She was going to need any fiber of her being ready to go when the moment came to confront the witch herself. She had to keep walking.

Alcina arriving in Locwitary was perhaps the greatest thing that could have followed all this heartache, she thought.

She would not be fated to stew in her loss while awaiting her return to her world. Just when the truth had hit her, she could hit back. Cassandra had no time to prep what she was going to say when they crossed paths, but whatever was about to come out of her mouth was going to be from the heart.

The heart that had been ripped out from her chest and torn to pieces.

Lia tilted her head back at the woman who walked only a few feet away from her on the right. There was a hint of unease in her eyes as she glanced at the brunette. She seemed somewhat regretful of having come here. "What are you going to do when we find her?"

Cassandra did not answer.

Lia turned her head forward and sighed. Cassandra could see her fur cape picking up as the wind snaked down the small hill that they ascended. The fawn did not need to speak any words, as the lowering of her head to the ground spoke for her.

Seconds passed as they continued to make their way to the top; almost there. Lia coughed just as her foot crested the hill. She waited for Cassandra to meet her; arms crossed most uncertainly. The brunette did not spare the fawn a glance, continuing to search around for the woman who had stolen her life.

Lia turned her head to her again. "You're going to kill her, aren't you?"

…

Cassandra still did not answer.

Lia kept her arms crossed as she gazed around at the landscape. The wind picked up, blowing her wavy hair across her thin cheeks. There was a slight furrow to her creased brow, which accentuated the growing disheartenment she felt.

Her voice carried a low tone of sadness, "Tell me the truth, Cassandra."

The brunette pressed her lips as she breathed deeply. She felt the infinite quantity of resentment inside of her boiling. "Please…just stop calling me that."

Lia looked her way with a frown. "After it's done, you still won't know your real name."

"Not if I get that information out of her before I end this."

Lia gave another sigh before she turned her head back to the grassy fields. She spoke quietly as she stared at the swaying hordes of dulled green vegetation, "It will not make you feel better."

Cassandra heard those words loud and clear, but for her own sake, she chose to ignore them as she searched around. There had to be a sign of that colossal demon somewhere. How could she be so hard to spot in such an open area?

Lia held her palm out in the air. Blue particles reappeared from her hand as she waved it around. "I brought you here so you can be free of what she has done to you. I saw how desperate you were to recover from it as you begged me. Now, I sense that there was more to it." Her stare drifted to the sky. "I did not bring you here to kill someone."

Cassandra finally replied, though she kept her head straight ahead, "Then you are free to leave."

Lia turned her head. "I'm not leaving you here."

A handful of anger crept into Cassandra's words. "Then just show me where she is and step away…"

A look of frustration flashed on Lia's face. She curled her fingers and swiftly dropped her arm, turning back to Cassandra and approaching her. "I'm not going to fight with you. I am done fighting with you."

Cassandra paid her no mind, but Lia would not go unheard. She took the brunette by the shoulder, only for her hand to be swatted away.

"Hey!" Lia grabbed her again with some more force, hoping that this would not have to call for the use of her powers. They would restrain Cassandra without much effort, but that would not do anything to help her out. It would only serve to contain a wild animal, and a wild animal was not what the woman had to be. "Listen to me, please!"

Cassandra's amber eyes matched hers, and the two women were face-to-face with one another. Lia's stare was firm, boring into the brunette's heart with sincerity. "I do not understand your anguish. What I do know is that what this woman has done to you is abhorrent. She is vile and she ruined the lives of three innocent girls. She made you hers, but you are not hers anymore."

Cassandra's brows pinched as her lips and nostrils curled. "I don't know anything about me because of her, Lia." Her voice grew louder, "I don't even know who I am because of what she did! Do you think I can just forget about that?"

"No," Lia replied, hands atop both of the brunette's shoulders. "I don't expect you to ever forget."

"That life of violence I lived, the one you so hated; that was all because of her. Remember that."

The fawn's hands drifted to the sides of Cassandra's neck, lifting to the backs of her ears. Lia's eyes glanced at the scar that had been left following the cadou surgery. It stood as a reminder of a horrible act that had been committed so many years ago, but whose wounds have never healed properly.

A tragedy trapped in time, but one that could still be pulled back from total darkness.

"The person she made you into is the same person who I met in this field just days ago. But, that is not the person I held in my arms earlier this morning. That is not the woman who befriended my sister or found the strength to forgive me when I had committed a terrible wrong. That woman would not just kill someone, would she?"

"I'm not going to have this conversation, Lia…"

Lia removed her hands from Cassandra, having sensed the homicidal urge inside her still very much alive. Discontent with what she felt but unwilling to fight, she pulled back, taking a step away from her. "I wish you would."

She shook her head. "Can we not?"

"Fine."

The two women continued walking across the field, Cassandra following Lia's direction. The fawn would not say many words to her along the way. There was a thickness to the air as they went about. The brunette could feel the rift between the two of them. It was palpable enough due to the quietness of the land, whose only tune was the whistle of the currents.

You don't understand, Lia. I know you have good intentions for me, but please…just let me be.

They were getting closer to Alcina's location. Lia's walking had taken a more direct path, showing that she was homing in on what her senses had picked up. She still had that troubled expression on her face. Cassandra knew that she was not happy with the decisions that would be made. She must have already regretted taking her, there was no doubt about it now.

The brunette wanted to ask about using Lia's ability to teleport so they could get to Alcina quicker, but the answer to that question was already in plain sight. Lia could have utilized such an option, but it was clear that she wanted to stall the process.

She wanted to give her companion time to re-think her upcoming actions.

Cassandra took a breath after clearing her mind just a little. Maybe, she thought, time was a little bit helpful. She still wanted to tear Alcina limb from limb, but she could only think of the same thoughts so many times. With the injection of how dismayed her friend had become of her, she wondered if there was any right decision in this endeavor at all.

What possible good could come from her false mother's presence in this world? Nothing, she believed. Alcina was a murderous plague to any realm she was in. If she was allowed to walk away, more people would suffer at her hands. If Cassandra did kill her, then Lia would lose faith in her being able to change.

Neither outcome was good – but, one was exponentially worse than the other and the choice was obvious.

Cassandra looked around as she walked ahead. "Why here? Why this field?"

Lia shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what significance this field holds." Her voice was noticeably quiet as she spoke. She had to have been fairly upset. "I cannot explain why your death brought you here. I don't know why hers also ended in the same result."

The fawn immediately noticed something on the ground near her feet. It was a strange item; one that looked like it had no business being there in the first place. A bound collection of papers, neatly arranged, unlike the uneven patterns of her books. "Hey, come look at this."

She turned around, anxious as to what Lia may have stumbled across. As soon as the brunette did, she quickly recognized the item in her hand.

Is that…a newspaper?

The two convened as Lia held the front page up. The Locwitarian had never seen anything like this before. The fine print. The clear pictures. It was all so strange.

Cassandra squinted her eyes as she stared at the artifact, dated September 22nd, 1998. "That's from my realm. I've seen those before. They are from outside my land. What is it doing here?"

Lia wasn't too sure. Her fingers traveled along the soft pages, feeling the most minimal of energy still attached to it. "Maybe it arrived here with you or Alcina."

"It looks so clean. It had to have just gotten here."

"I suppose so," Lia stated as she peered closer at the text. She had no issues reading it, though the subject matter left her confused. "What is 'The Racoon City Times'?"

Cassandra lost all interest in the paper, as it did nothing to tell her where Alcina was. "I don't know," she said as she rolled her eyes and turned her head back toward the open land. "Where are we?"

"Tyillioum," Lia stated as she rolled the paper up and tied it around the belt of her gown. "Near the edge of Deas."

"Deas is the region where no one lives anymore, correct?" Cassandra was puzzled, wondering just how she could have ended up so far away from the region of Joulin.

"You would be correct, yes."

Cassandra continued walking, taking the time to soak in the geography. The area was so different in appearance compared to the bright and lush region where everyone she met had been staying. It was a strange combination of dread and decay, as the atmosphere of this place personified the darker times that had occurred there.

"Is all of Tyillioum like this?" Cassandra asked.

"No. You just know Deas is close by when it begins to look like this." Lia still sounded timid, as she hoped the gloom of the upcoming region would stir Cassandra's thoughts and make her want to turn back.

"What caused it?"

"All the death it has seen," Lia replied. "Fitting that it may see another, I suppose…"

Cassandra bit her lower lip, trying her best to ignore the message that Lia was trying to hand to her. "How did you know that I was here?"

Lia shrugged her shoulders again as she kept her arms crossed. "I just felt something in the air. Milo and I were working together on some of his medicine when I told him that there was a strong energy coming from somewhere. I've never felt anything like it before. Somehow…I was able to see you as you woke up here."

She brought her hand up to the clip on her fur cape, gracing it with the tops of her soft fingers. "I showed Milo what was going on through a window, and he believed that you could have been from another realm. We talked – briefly – before I made this decision to go there and find you."

"I'm sure you regret that decision," Cassandra remarked.

Lia glanced at her for split second before turning her eyes back ahead. "No, I do not."

Cassandra exhaled slowly, still fighting the weight that Lia's words had placed on her. "If we are so far from Milo, how could you have just made your way over here? How far can you go?"

"All surges have their connections to this place. It's in our blood." Lia removed her hand from her shoulder and glanced at the dull, blue glow that ran through her veins. "It's sad, in all honesty. What once was home is nothing worth returning to." She sighed as she peeked back at her. "It was destroyed by many terrible acts. Maybe, someday, those acts will stop happening."

Cassandra ceased her walking. Lia advanced a couple more feet before she realized that she was the only person still in motion. The fawn stopped and turned around with a confused expression.

"Why did you stop?" She asked Cassandra.

"If you are trying to tell me something, just say it. I'd rather not fight with you, Lia, but I am not in the mood for your cryptic words. Just spit it out."

Lia stood there with a sharpness in her eyes. She crossed her arms again, and her breathing began to pick up – only to slow down. She shrugged her right shoulder one final time right before she shook her head in disapproval. "You already know how I feel."

"This isn't about you, Lia."

Her arms came down as she took a step toward Cassandra. Hesitation kicked in, and she stuttered in her movement before clenching her fists at her side. "I know that it – damn it, Cassandra! Can you just stop?"

The brunette's eyebrows pinched together. "What? What did I do now?"

"I am not your enemy!" Lia pointed at herself, looking tense as she stared the brunette down. "I am only doing my best to help you and yet, I feel like you're willing to throw it all away."

Cassandra closed her eyes and shook her head as she marched forward. "I am not going to have this conversation with you, Lia. You know that is not true."

Lia stood her ground, not moving at all. She did not like what she was seeing, and she was not afraid to let Cassandra know about it. "Is this the same woman who told me that she was horrified at what she has done? All the people she has tortured and killed? Or, is this the woman who embraced it?"

Cassandra kept walking, her anger growing. "Let's go!"

Lia curled her lip as she watched her push ahead. She could not stand this side of Cassandra, and to see it still alive and well angered her to no end. The fawn flashed from where she stood, appearing before the brunette and halting her advancement.

Lia took a breath as soon as she re-formed, staring Cassandra down as she did so. "Have you ever killed someone because you were angry? Did the anger ever stop? Can you honestly say that you weren't still miserable?"

Cassandra remained silent, glaring back at Lia. Her mind was instantly taken away to that afternoon in the kitchen, where Luana tried to follow the orders that she had been given – only to be brutally murdered. Though the brunette had ended the lives of multiple maidens before her, Luana's death was still fresh in her head.

Initially, the aftermath of Luana's murder only served to create more stress in her final days. It was nothing more than a mistake to the daughter of House Dimitrescu, though it brought along a price to be paid. Cassandra had been going through a tremendous amount of self-loathing when the catastrophic blow to the back of the maiden's head was struck. Even after she had dissected and eaten parts of her body, it did not bring any sense of joy as she resigned herself to crying above her remains.

While her old world allowed for some cracks in the foundation, Locwitary was able to bring forth some change. She was able to see the evil in her past actions, finding the Cassandra of old to have been a ruthless and sadistic killing machine.

Until this very moment, she had regretted the deaths because she had finally felt what torturous pain could feel like, along with the fear of being at someone else's mercy. She detested her actions based on the kindness that Lia and the others had shown her, welcoming her with love. She knew she had done wrong, and the consequences of it regarding Leta propelled her to seek a better path.

Now – after Lia had made that comment – she began to put the pieces together.

She could not remember anything regarding her past life. It was all gone, scrubbed from all existence, save for the final shreds that Lia had managed to pull out. But, from what she had seen, the moments before her own life had ended were no different from those of the women who would come after her.

Crying out for help as they were being dragged back inside, their loved ones far from that castle's walls, never to see them again.

Terrified that the person in charge was a hair's thickness away from harming them for any given reason.

Watching as another was brutally injured and being expected to continue as if nothing ever happened. That was when Cassandra saw the truth.

Luana and the others were just like her – trapped inside that prison. Seven decades of mental and physical shackles.

These were women that were brought in, only to be abused and tortured. They were scared. They missed their families, who never knew the full extent of what their daughters and sisters were forced to endure. She and her siblings may have willingly carried out the atrocities, but in some way, they were all still victims of Alcina's will.

Cassandra could not let go of her ability to inflict harm. It was still there, imprinted into who the genetics of the creature she was turned into. It would take longer than a day to rid herself of such potential. The weight of everything that she had learned inflamed her rage, driving her will closer toward it. She bit her tongue, unwilling to answer Lia, who she knew was only trying to help her.

The fawn observed her silence. She shut her eyes for a brief second before rolling her lips. There had to be a way to reach Cassandra, she thought. "It didn't, did it? It never works."

She eased her posture and approached Cassandra slowly. "I lost my mother. I had my entire life changed before my very eyes. I was angry too." Lia's face grew sadder as she relived the worst days of her past. "If I went out and killed someone, even the person responsible for it, she was not going to be there when it was over. She is gone, and I must live with that."

Cassandra's brows furrowed as she listened to Lia's words. Her breathing slowed and for a little while, she was able to shift through the wrath inside her.

Lia rolled her lips again before parting them with her tongue. Her hand graced the braided locks that she used to band her long hair together with. The same makeshift crown that her mother had taught her how to make all those years ago. The one she wore every day in her memory.

"I hurt you, Cassandra. I know what I did. I thought that if I could find someone who I thought was so evil, I could release my pain onto them, and it would make it all better. I was wrong. It didn't make it better. The pain never, ever, goes away. All it left me with was an act that I could not undo."

She reached out, palms open. Her hands softly wrapped around Cassandra's wrists, raising her arms between the two of them. The fawn's green eyes stared into the amber circles of the woman in front of her. Both shined with held-back tears, but not a single drop would fall. Lia made her message clear.

"Killing Alcina will not restore the life that she has taken from you."

There was a pause before Cassandra clenched her teeth and withdrew her hands from Lia's. The fawn carried a look of shock as she watched the woman walk past her and further ahead. After everything she had said, she still would not let go of her dark will. She did not know what else to do or say. It seemed as though the woman was hellbent on ending Alcina's life – no matter what the cost.

Lia shouted out to her as the distance between them lengthened, "I really believed you had changed!"

Cassandra said nothing.

The fawn considered gathering her powers and teleporting back to Milo's castle, leaving Cassandra by herself. She wanted nothing to do with the act of murder, nor did she believe that the brunette's hatred was going to result in anything good. Whether she found the retribution she sought or not, what progress they had made together stood to be lost.

Lia's tightened her fists, ready to just grab Cassandra and take her back with her. The compassion that was natural to her compelled her to do so. She felt as if she had made a grave mistake in taking her here, and the only way to stop this would be to restrict her from enacting such barbarity.

Lia wanted to, but she knew there was a balance to be maintained. What stopped her from completely lashing out at Cassandra was the fact that she did not know what was coming when those memories had been unearthed. Lia thought the woman was entitled to the truth, but the gravity of it was greater than anything she could have imagined. There was perfect cause to be so steered toward the boundaries of self-control.

She wanted to blame Cassandra – but it was she who created this event.

Lia teleported in front of Cassandra again. "Stop! Think about this! You don't have to kill her!"

The instant Cassandra's teeth showed was the moment she erupted. "Why are you defending her, Lia?! You saw what she did to me!" Her voice began to shake as a tear rattled from her right eye. The brunette was at the edge of her stability, and she did not want Lia to stand in her path, but it was a path that she believed she must walk. "You showed me all of that and you expect me to just…be okay?"

"Look, Cassandra, I…I don't know what I expected. I didn't know what you were going to see. I was only trying to help you."

"Then move aside! You don't know what I am going through right now. You don't know how disgusted I feel at what she did to me. I spent years upon years living under her lies. Even right now, I still feel like I'm owned by that woman, and I need to be freed. This is between me and her. She will not get away with this."

Lia tried to calm herself down and not escalate this any further. Cassandra needed to be reminded that she was not alone. "What she has done to you is the most horrific thing I have ever seen. My heart aches for you, it truly does! You have suffered again and again, but please, you will only suffer more if you allow yourself to fall back. Killing to save a life is one thing, Cassandra. This…this is just malice! You are better than that!" She reached out to her with open arms. "Please, come back with me to Milo's castle. I'll do everything that I can to help you."

The brunette could not stop the heavy breaths that pounded inside her chest. The thoughts of Alcina had come flooding back inside her head and she needed to release them. There was too much to let go of and she could not put these demons to rest at a whim. This wasn't just revenge on her part.

This was revenge for Bela and Daniela – whose lives were also taken away from them.

As Lia herself had mentioned: she did not understand. The fawn had her own traumatic events, but they were not the same. No matter how many memories she was able to view of Cassandra's past, she would never know what it was like to be in that castle day after day, feeling like a prisoner. So much time spent in a body of flies that was crafted by a callous experiment born of greed and envy, only to come crashing down upon her as the truth was revealed.

To Cassandra – this needed to be done.

"Move, Lia…"

Dismay was all Lia could muster on her face as she watched Cassandra shoot a vicious glare at her. There was no compromise in this, she felt. The brunette may have held a good heart within that darkness, but it was too entangled by the grip of all the sins she had wrought throughout her lifetime.

"Or what, Cassandra? What will happen to me?"

Her crimson lips curled with a dire warning. "Move…"

Lia bowed her head in defeat. Grabbing her hand and taking her back to Milo's castle would not change the resentment. She had hoped that this could have been all avoided, but it was not her decision to make in the end. She started this, and now, she'd have to tack it onto the growing list of things she wished she could've done differently.

The fawn exhaled slowly and shook her head. "Fine…I'm done."

She grabbed the brunette by the wrist before she could even react. A tear of her own fell as she looked Cassandra in the eye, face grimaced with heartbreak. "You want to kill her so badly? Do it! Choose violence! I won't stop you! When this is done, you stay away from Leta!"

In a flash, the two women vanished from where they stood in an aura of blue particles. A second later, further down the hills, those particles reformed, and Cassandra opened her eyes to another field of grass. Lia released her hold on her wrist as swiftly as she could, as if the leash had come off and the dog was allowed to run free.

She had brought her to the spot where she could feel Alcina's presence the most. Lia had prepared herself for whatever could happen, knowing that the tyrant's powers were lethal. She was ready to step in and save Cassandra from death if need be. But, until then, she would not intervene.

This was what Cassandra wanted – and she would get it.

However, instead of seeing Alcina in her white gown and large hat, black hair tied in a bun, standing in the middle of the field, ready to take on whatever came her way, Lia and Cassandra immediately saw something else.

The brunette was the first to widen her eyes at the sight in front of her.

What…what is this?

Before them was not the woman that Cassandra had remembered. Her skin was a dull white, just as it had been when she transformed into that beast during her battle with Ethan. Her head was bald, and while her body retained the same humanoid shape and size as she always remembered, tendrils and growths could be seen throughout various parts of her. She was nude, but her breasts and pelvic region had been covered with weathered, dragon-like skin. From her arms sprouted more white tendrils, which draped down her triceps and across her forearms leading up to her dual set of elongated nails.

Her face, still mostly human, saw a massive growth of veinous pustules and more tendrils that seemed to emerge from an opening on her right temple. It was the same area she had always kept covered with her hat, signifying her own point of incision. Cracks lined the skin around the bulbous growths, radiating toward her nose and cheek. Her right eye was completely gone; absorbed by the mass.

She barely resembled the woman Cassandra remembered. In essence, she was caught between the two forms she occupied. A rift in the stability of her own body as it was sent across two worlds. The image was shocking, but what hit Cassandra the most was not the way she looked, but the way she had been found.

Alcina was not turned toward the duo ready to engage them. Despite her height, she did not stand tall in the open grass. No.

Instead, she was lying down on her back, covered in her own blood.

What happened to her?

The woman slowly turned her head to Cassandra, using her remaining eye to glance at the brunette. Her chest had been riddled with a series of stab wounds, which caused an upheaval of crimson to escape. Her left arm briefly moved upwards, but her forearm appeared to be broken.

While Alcina may have managed to enter Locwitary with some of her old traits, her powers of regeneration were gone, and she was at death's door. A gurgle and a cough breathed through her lips as she continued to look at the girl she had turned into her daughter. "Cassandra…"

Regardless of what the brunette had just stumbled across, the sight of Alcina ignited her fury. If there was still life, there was the opportunity to fulfill her journey's goal. She clenched her fists as she stepped toward her, teeth gritted, and jaw tensed. Nothing would stop her.

"You…" She growled. "Don't you dare call me by the name. I am not your daughter!"

Alcina's eye fluttered as agonal gasps arose within her throat. Her jaw lowered with each breath.

Cassandra took a few more steps before she stood over her. Alcina was too weak to even move. The presence of her razor-sharp claws meant nothing to the vengeful woman. The former village lord was now the most defenseless being she had ever witnessed.

"This…this is you," the brunette said as she surveyed the mutations. "This is the monster you've always had inside you."

While Lia had expected Cassandra to be faced with a harrowing encounter, she never expected anything like this. The sight of Alcina was something that looked so alien to her. She covered her mouth, eyes wide as ever. It was a staple of the grotesque horror that permeated Cassandra's world. Nightmares the likes of which Locwitary had never seen.

She watched as Cassandra took the stage in this exchange, wondering just where her drive would push her.

Alcina's throat bobbed as she fought for air. "Where…am…"

Cassandra dropped to her knees, snarling as she gripped her false mother by the tendrils on her head. "Shut up! You know what you did to me! I know the truth now!" She began to shake Alcina as hard as she could, causing the woman to cough even more. Blood continued to trail down her ribs, but no mind was paid to it by the woman who held her in her grasp.

"I saw the memories that you had removed from me. I know it was all a lie! Miranda and you stole me from my family! You experimented on me. You made me into…" She let go of Alcina's head and gestured toward her removed hair and large scar. "…this! You made me into something like you!"

Lia stood by with another tear forming as she listened to Cassandra's heart break before her very eyes. She had never heard such emotion come through her voice before. All the rage that flowed into her words was just a glimpse of how much Alcina's actions had affected her. She wanted to step in, but she couldn't.

Cassandra continued to spill out her grief for the life she would never live. "All those years of being forced to serve you, believing that you truly loved us. What kind of mother loves someone like that?" The anger in her voice was slowly beginning to turn into a high-pitched cry of sadness. "That isn't love! My parents loved me and you took me from them!"

At that moment, Alcina's chest sat still and her eye, which had been affixed on Cassandra, now stared past her in a directionless gaze. Years of murder had offered that same view to the brunette countless times. She knew what had just happened.

Cassandra immediately broke out into a slew of tears, taking Alcina by the tendrils around her head once again and shaking her as hard as she could. The woman's face remained motionless throughout the fruitless act.

"No! You do not get to die and escape this!" She cried through her words. "You answer for what you did! What was my real name?! Why me?!"

Her fists slammed on top of Alcina's depleted torso, over and over. "I already had a family! Why did you do this to me? Why?! Who am I?!" She struck her body one final time before her arms grew weak and resigned to slumping down the deceased woman's bloody chest.

Cassandra's tears multiplied and her wailing mixed with her words. "You answer me…please!"

Lia stepped closer, approaching the brunette from behind. "Cassandra…"

Sobbing down at her own bloodied hands, Cassandra's eyes tightened with anguish. She could not find the strength to stand. All she could do was reach into the deepest pockets of her misery and let its contents out into the air.

"It was my life, and she stole it from me!" Her voice shuddered with shaky breaths, dimming as her lungs emptied. She laid herself against the woman who had wronged her, crying as her hope died as well. "I want my life back! Just…give it back…"

Lia placed her arms around Cassandra, resting her head against hers. Her hand took to gracing the back of her shoulder, a small effort at comforting the fragmented woman. With her voice just above a whisper, the fawn breathed a long shush that aimed to soothe her. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

Cassandra could no longer speak. Just like earlier, all she could do was fall into despair. Her body would not relent in its refusal to move. She was like a statue in front of that corpse. It felt like she was doomed to spend the rest of eternity sorting through these emotions as if at some point, Alcina would wake up to finally give her some answers, which would never happen.

She had come to this field with everything she had, only to be left with an empty husk of a soul.

As the brunette's crying continued, Lia suddenly lifted her head and gazed around the field. Her eyes carried a sense of alert, mixed with a flash of urgency. She turned to Cassandra and cupped her soddened face with both of her warm hands. "We need to go. We cannot stay here."

Cassandra could barely look at her, but Lia was not going to take any more chances. She took the woman's blood-soaked hand and within a second, both ladies were gone, leaving only a few dissipated particles of blue energy in their wake.

The wind continued to blow across the silent, grassy field where Alcina's body lay. The gusts howled along the open plain, as the grey skies above refused to see the shine of clear light. It was the epicenter of re-birth, bordered by a land known only for death.

As soon as the duo vacated the area, death was the only thing that remained.

Death – and its harbinger.

NOTES:

Well, the confrontation with Alcina finally happened – sort of.

This chapter serves as a pivotal moment in the story, showing that closure is not always guaranteed. Things don't go the way we expect them to. Fates are laid out but not fulfilled.

I'm sure this was not what you were expecting, but this has been in the making for a long time. It is going to kickstart the events to come.

The answers to those questions are not far away, and neither is the next chapter. I won't keep you waiting. It will be released within the next twenty-four hours. Without spoilers, it's all about Lia and Cassandra.

So, yeah, there are going to be a lot of unforeseen things in this story. While there are more wholesome moments in this compared to Fragmented Fears, these two still share the same canon (in a way) which means Locwitary is not immune from the horror this series can indulge in.

At the same time – some very beautiful moments are also on the horizon.

Follow this story on Archive of Our Own to see the newest piece of artwork created for this chapter!

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and for those eager for the next one, I hope you enjoy that as well! Thanks for supporting this story and inspiring me to get on my computer and keep typing along. I've met so many awesome people ever since the first chapter was published, and you've all been great. I honestly appreciate it. Just a little reminder on each note of how much you all mean to me! Stay safe and I will see you all very soon! 😊