From every corner of Kingsbury, people stared in awe at the pair falling from the height of the only tower left standing. It seemed so peaceful at first, like free falling, a final attempt to escape this life. Black and blonde hair swirled together, gravity pulling them harshly and without remorse straight to the ground. From every corner, people watched.

The rain slowed as they plummeted to the stone courtyard, and the sky erupted in one final roar before it stopped altogether.

Magicians transported to the scene, many not daring to take a step closer to the victims. The humans appeared from the shadows, though there was no need for more bloodshed. The war had been fought and finally won. Among the dozens upon dozens of deceased magicians, the living focused on their former leader and the witch girl who hardly had a title as prestigious as Royal Sorceress.

"That's Martha." Lona whispered. She fell to the ground, her knees tightening from witnessing the quick drop. She hardly knew the girl, only that she had saved them before the battle began. She could have just been a random fatality, but part of Lona knew this girl. Part of her wished she had the time to know more.

Maybe she wouldn't have felt torn between feeling grateful for her final act of bravery or saddened by her sacrifice.

Beth, Mari, and Aria stood frozen, glued to the immobile Royal Sorceress. A breathless, lifeless mortal who couldn't escape death, her invincible facade shattered and rendered her as vulnerable as those she tormented. It was hard to believe what they saw, something that had seemed so unattainable. Yet it was a certainty - Madame Suliman had finally fallen.

Markl and Heen pushed through the crowd in a hurry. It didn't matter whether they rushed by good magicians or Suliman's army. The worry that flooded his mind clouded any other thought, any other concern around him. Markl had tears in his eyes the moment he recognized the two women crashing to the ground at full speed. He didn't want what he knew to be true to actually be true.

"Move!" Markl's voice was high-pitched, something he had started to grow out of recently. He pushed himself to the end of the circle that surrounded the victims, everyone keeping a few yards' distance away. Markl broke through the barrier to see it with his own eyes.

Heen whimpered softly. He recognized their scents.

On the other side, Markl saw Gwenda and they both rushed forward.

"Martha!" Gwenda fell to her knees and Calcifer stood behind her, keeping guard. Martha's eyes fluttered, but she resisted opening them. A red line trickled from her mouth down her cheek, dripping on the pavement like a broken pipe. Every bone in her body felt like shards of glass, scattered and fragmented. Every breath pierced her lungs, knowing she could not fill them fully.

She could not ease the pain; Suliman's fate was a blessing compared to this.

"Aunt Martha?" She forced her eyes open at the sweet sound. Aunt. Had he ever called her that before? It was a lullaby, a soothing cry to her soul. She wanted to extend what little time they had left, but even magic couldn't save her now.

She tilted her head up, suffering through the torturous movement, so she could look into his bright eyes. Martha managed the faintest of smiles. "Hey kid."

Gwenda removed her jacket and ripped the sleeves apart, trying to form tourniquets around her injuries. "It's fine. We're going to get help. We're going to fix you."

Martha coughed red, a disturbing and pitiful sprinkle of blood dotting the air and staining the stone beneath her. Every breath, every cough, every movement - Martha lay on the ground, comforted by the lifeless body next to her. For some reason, she found an odd sense of contentment listening to Suliman's desperate cries for help. Maybe she cried knowing that she was finally alone, finally vulnerable - finally overcome.

Martha blinked slowly, turning her eyes to the dark sky. "I saved my sister."

Gwenda sucked in a deep breath. She held Martha's shoulders, willing each breath to enter and exit her mouth. "Stop talking like you're dying."

Martha closed her eyes, leaving a gentle smile on her fragile lips. "I did something good this time."

Calcifer wrapped his arms around her as Gwenda tapped Martha's cheek, begging her to wake up. She repeatedly spoke the word "no" under her breath and between her tears. In a violent motion, Gwenda pressed herself against Calcifer and sobbed into his shoulder. More death, she thought. More death and fewer people left behind.

She rested against him, tears drowning his coat. Calcifer was her stronghold; without him, she would wither away and become frail. She would be as lonely as she was before, when isolation kept her from caring about others. It kept her from feeling empathy in situations like this. How could she ever go back now, after everything they'd all been through?

Markl sat still, stunned, waiting for Martha to breathe again. He waited for her eyes to smile back at his. He was waiting for something that could never be. Part of him knew that, but the child inside of him still believed that with a little bit of magic, maybe she would live.

He held Heen under his arm. The petite dog squirmed to break free from his hold. He wanted to lie next to Martha; he wanted to lick her face and feel her fingernails scratching down his back and embrace her warmth. She looked cold now. His whimpers were shrill and struck Markl like tiny knives, but eventually Heen embraced the boy wizard, accepting his comfort and need to be comforted.

Calcifer turned to those surrounding them, witnessing their mourning. There were a few of Suliman's soldiers present, most of them in awe of their leader's untimely death. He could hear their panicked whispers, their uncertainty of what lay in the future.

Ultimately, they were nothing without her.

They departed, one by one, into the sky or vanished into thin air. Those who remained were torn between the sense of a hopeful future and the tragedy that occurred in order to secure that hope. All that was certain laid before them - a fallen sorceress, a brave witch, and a crumbling Palace minutes from nonexistence.

Calcifer helped Gwenda stand and held her balance. He wiped away the tears that lingered on her cheek. "We should get everyone to safety."

Gwenda nodded and her eyes landed on the many faces she recognized in the crowd. Her sister with an empathetic visage, uneasiness written on her face; her friends with their relief and devastation mixed and muddled in their eyes; Markl, a child who had seen death and destruction his entire life, still experiencing far too much for a child's tenderness.

And then Suliman.

She swallowed hard, almost in disbelief. Years of memories rushed back to her, reminding her of the menacing acts she witnessed under Suliman's rule. She was no Queen, nor did she wear a crown that symbolized her rule, but she was as sadistic and callous as any of the members of the Royal Family.

Gwenda stepped in her direction, expecting to see her cheat death as well, but she remained paralyzed. Her anger boiled inside and exerted in physical and verbal force against the deceased sorceress. "You horrible, worthless, selfish, wicked-" Gwenda kicked and screamed slandering terms, each kick and each term worse than the last. Suliman, defenseless and feeble, willingly accepted the blows.

Markl and Heen stepped away, letting her anger continue, but Calcifer moved in to restrain her. Lona walked toward them from the crowd, immediately embracing her sister with a tight grip. She whispered calming words that only made Gwenda cry more. Even with Suliman gone, this battle for power would never cease.

"Markl." The boy looked to Calcifer, his eyes drained and exhausted. "Have you seen Howl, Sophie, or Kenta?"

Markl shook his head. "No." Calcifer nodded. As he prepared to direct others in their next move, Markl interrupted. "Who are you?"

Calcifer looked down to the boy who stared at him with confusion. He couldn't help but smile. "Come on, kid." 

The room was chaotic as flames crept around every corner. With the strange and immediate disappearance of Suliman as well as her brainwashed doctor, who ran off when she no longer controlled him, danger should have left with them. However, they were left to find their own escape from the aftermath of a crumbling Palace - and fast.

It happened so suddenly Kenta had little time to react. Martha and Suliman fell out the window, though her barrier kept them from following or keeping Martha safe from the aftermath. One second everyone stared at the beauty of a new life, and the next the witches plummeted from the height of the tower. He was in such complete awe he didn't realize what had happened until the doctor sprung loose.

He swung the door open on his way out, where the flames had begun flooding upward. Kenta cast a spell that extracted water from the air and flushed it over the oncoming flames, though that did little against the destructive blaze that consumed their exit. The tower was unstable, rocking everything and everyone inside back and forth. Eventually, it would fall to the ground and turn to ash, same for the rest of the Palace. They needed an escape soon.

The sound of childlike cries drew Kenta back to his friends. A newborn boy tucked into Sophie's gentle grasp, she stared at her baby with such love only a mother could recognize. As much as she tried, however, she could not mask her anxiety of their situation and panic of Howl's state of mind.

"Wake up, Howl." Xarx shook his shoulders until Howl squinted as if the sun's rays were shining directly into his eyesight. His exhales came out in short bursts, like each one was a strain on his being. He raised his hand and pressed it over his heart, feeling each bountiful beat pulsing through his chest. They punched his ribs with no mercy, and his mind combated against the evil he now felt surging through his bloodstream. After what he experienced, there was bound to be some damage to recover from.

Xarx held Howl's hand and brought him to his feet. Without his steady grip, Howl would have fallen on his trembling legs. He scanned the room aimlessly, like a drunk going in and out of consciousness. All was a blur - after Suliman separated his heart from his being, nothing felt the same. He felt cold and empty, living a barren reality, and with nothing to live for. Part of him wanted to give up and release his soul away from mortal existence.

Then his heart returned.

His body felt whole again, the missing piece fulfilling the hollowness, yet he remained torn. Familiar envious emotions devoured the purity in his heart and scattered through his body, distorting his thoughts and filling his mind with greed and recklessness. He remembered that part of himself - that was his reason for granting Calcifer control of it for so long.

He didn't want to demonize his heart.

With evil intentions now attached to his morality, how would he discern between right and wrong?

"...hear what I'm saying?" Howl turned to Xarx. His recognition was hazy, but Howl at least remembered his face. A younger, more impotent face at first, then this matured one wearing a mask. He was a master of deceit, able to convince anyone that he was on their side. His survival instincts rewarded him well - but not this time.

Howl grabbed Xarx by the throat and pushed him against the wall, moving the entire tower in that direction. Sophie's bed slid across the floor toward them until Kenta bolted to keep them steady. Her baby's cries grew louder and louder over Xarx's struggles, so she embraced him closer. She dared not watch Howl react so viciously with their child so young, so unscarred.

"Howl!" Kenta grabbed his arms to remove them, but Howl only elbowed him in the jaw to keep him back. Xarx was immobile and exposed to Howl's actions.

"You think I don't know who you are?" Howl whispered with a growling undertone. "Working for Suliman, claiming to be on our side - I don't believe you. I think this is all a ploy for you to lead us to our death."

"Howl." Xarx struggled against his hand exerting more pressure over his throat. "She changed you."

"And she didn't change you?" He leaned in closer, the flames lighting his eyes from the top of the stairwell. "You worked for her long enough. Why should we trust you so easily?"

Kenta wrapped his arm around Howl's neck and pulled him away from Xarx, knocking him back to the ground. Xarx inhaled a deep breath, quickly restraining Howl. Both he and Kenta held his arms down.

"You need to pull it together," Kenta said. "You are not yourself. You need to find your true self, the part of you Suliman has been trying to erase for years."

"He's a criminal!" Howl shouted. "And so are you!" He thrashed under their grip with a violent force. It was difficult for Kenta to watch his most respected comrade fall prey to an evil such as Madame Suliman, though it would not be the first time she influenced either of them this way. He glanced over to Sophie, mortified by the scene, Howl's breaking point bringing her to her very own.

"I may have a spell." Xarx said, piquing Kenta's interest. "She placed darkness in his heart, and if I replace it with light I may be able to remove it."

"He's a creature of darkness," Kenta said, looking into the void of Howl's eyes. "He feeds off of it. I'd be doubtful if all the light in the world could reverse what Suliman did."

Xarx shook his head. "It wouldn't hurt to try."

He locked Howl's hands to the floor and immediately knelt in front of him. He closed his eyes and held his hands crossed over his chest, attempting to visualize his interior. Like the moon in a sea of darkness or a single battleship flying through the sky, he quickly located his heart and saw the extremities done to it. Blackness engulfed most of the outer surface, almost consuming it whole. Reverting the effects would mean challenging this wickedness with goodness, goodness for which only Howl could abandon greed and egocentrism.

"Howl, listen to my voice." Xarx spoke low and calmly. A faint light emitted from his fingertips and pursued into his heart. "Sophie is here with us. She is watching your actions and she is afraid. Not only that, but your son is watching you, too."

Howl clenched his teeth together as he held his eyes shut, closing them as tightly as he could. Kenta moved his gaze around the room, watching as Sophie sat frightened of her love, as Xarx reminded Howl of his inner righteousness, and as Howl fought once more to release the darkness that continued to plague him.

"You're a father now." Xarx said, his tone fierce with intention. "You're a father to that beautiful boy crying in her arms. We will not let you give up. Not right here, not right now, not ever."

The light poured into his heart like rain nourishing a flower. Howl's breathing slowed and he relaxed his muscles. When Xarx felt comfortable removing his hands, the light vanished from his fingertips and the spell ceased. In a moment, in a single moment of waiting and worrying and time pressuring them, all that remained undone was Howl.

In a moment, they needed a change of heart.

As Kenta repeated a spell, a whirlwind formed around him as he transformed into his gryphon form. Whether Howl was ready or not, they needed to leave before the tower collapsed with them still in it.

Xarx stood and extended his hand to Sophie, though she hesitated. He lowered his gaze. "We don't know if he'll return to the way he was before."

Sophie bit her lip, looking into the eyes of her newborn baby. They were as blue as Howl's, and just as loving. This child was theirs, a creation of their love. He would know what love is, even if Howl was unable to show it to her ever again.

"Sophie." She held her breath as he whispered her name.

Once bearing the eyes of hatred, now Howl only gazed upon her with concern and inner disappointment, like he had failed her time and time again. He stood on shaky legs - under the careful watch of Xarx - and stepped around to her bedside. Sophie held the newborn close to her chest, where Howl could see his face.

For the first time in a very long time, Howl lit up like he had just witnessed something incredible. She had never seen such devoted compassion in his eyes than in that moment.

He looked at her, his smile so precious. "We're parents now."

Sophie nodded with tears."We're parents."

Xarx touched both of their shoulders. "And we need to leave."

As they boarded Sophie and the baby onto Kenta's back, he flew everyone through the open window, leaving the remains of the Kingsbury Palace behind them permanently.