Silvery green blood pooled on the floor surrounding a beautiful woman with the lower body of a snake adored with red jewels which sparkled with more beauty than the sun. Red lay dead on the ground with Blue sobbing uncontrollably over her sister. In that moment, I became certain not only did halfling have soles but so did Others. No one without a soul would care so deeply for someone. With that realization, I got mad. Red had saved my life because she had cared for me and Blue cried because she cared for her and this human had killed her because he didn't care at all.

The tunnels shook. Not from commotion overhead, but from me. Lieutenant Aho fell over as he tried to get another shoot in. It buried into the ground, harming no one. The blood came next, streaming down my face. The power I felt was waves, breaking into and over my body. It seeped from me shaking the world with my pain. Honi was cowering from the falling ceiling, gazing at me fearfully, but I couldn't stop. I screamed.

The men and women of the army fell to their knees, screams of pains harmonizing with the Other's one leaving my lips. Their ears began bleeding. Lieutenant Aho dropped the gun, trying to cover his ears. Honi darted forward, using her spear to stab him away and pull it close enough to grab. Once it was in her hands, my voice died away. Some of the soldiers had passed out, the rest struggled to stand.

"This isn't over you Other bitch!" Lieutenant Aho forced himself into a stand first, grabbing a standard gun from among the fallen.

"That's where you have it wrong, sir." I drug out the word his had forced from me when I first arrived without earning the respect. "I am not an Other. I am Alice. I am the savior of humanity and I've decide in order for humans to live you must die."

The banshee's misty blue blood falling from my face stopped as a new color flowed. A brilliant gold cried from me as I pulled from one of the most powerful Others, the high Fae court. Roots sprung from above attacking any guards left standing. They were grabbed and flung about or entrapped in a weave of plant. Some were even stabbed and impaled upon the roots. It was a horrific sight. Honi was shaking in the corner, while Blue cheered me on for the revenge of her sister.

"Alice, look!" Honi shouted, her finger pointing at what she heard a retreating Lieutenant Aho.

I yelled in rage and took off after him. Blue shouted at me, but didn't come after, clinging to her sister's lifeless body. Honi though picked her way through the scattered guards with me, clinging to the gun while her spear bounced against her back. I only paused to swoop up my swords from where they had been abandoned in the attack. The metal a refreshing presence of an old friend back in my grasp.

We followed the Lieutenant downed the halls, hot on his heels and retreating figure. I had lost the grip on abilities. My body shaking with the required energy for use of so much in a short amount of time. Still, I couldn't give up. I needed to find Pitri. I needed to tell him I was sorry and I cared about him. I wanted him to meet Honi and show him that he isn't alone as a halfling, that there were those who would accept that part of him...that I would accept that part of him.

The Lieutenant slammed open a door, not even daring to take the time to close it behind him. We rushed through and found ourselves in the plastic curtain room, the experiment room. Honi pushed the curtains with the tip of the gun, confused.

"What is this place?"

I opened my mouth to answer when a familiar voice screamed in pain. I surged forward, ripping the plastic to shreds with my swords. I stuttered to a stop at seeing Pitri strapped to the table where the lady had died. He had a steady IV of that gate mixed chemical dripping into his veins. Honi froze beside me, her snakes hissing frantically at her about the scene. Her hand covered her mouth in shock. I can only image how her mind is painting this picture.

His veins were stark against his, normally dark, skin. They were black and had the same webbing looking as Red's had, pumping through his body the poison His skin had faded to an unhealthy tinge of brownish-yellow. His silver eyes were staring up at the ceiling, though they appeared to see nothing through the haze of pain and drugs. The whites of his eyes were a pale yellow with spidery red veins that made him look half-dead, which he probably was. He had already been malnourished when I first met him, but looking at him now I didn't know how he was even alive. It hadn't even been a week since I had to escaped, yet he looked starved for months. His bones were protruding in dangerous amount, filling him with sharp angles. Whatever was that concoction did involved burning through way to much of his energy and glycogen fat storage. He looked like he should and even wanted to be dead over this hell. Still a tinge of relief hit me, selfishly glad he wasn't.

I moved to go to him, to comfort him, when Lieutenant Aho emerged from the shadows. I growled at him, elongating my canines in all their Others glory. I was way beyond hiding that part of me from him.

"Don't. Just don't." He held a gun, aimed at Pitri's head.

I stopped, twitching in anger, but unable to bring forth the power I had earlier.

He laughed. "All out of juice bitch?" His hand shook in pain and anger, his face shifting between the emotions like a kaleidoscope. "I'm going to kill him right in front of you, just like you took the love of my life away from me."

"Malia was a horrible human being that killed and tortured her own kind for experiments. I'm not surprised someone like you would love her."

Angry flashed, a bright purple contorting his own so in control features. "I could same something similar about you."

The world seemed to slow as I saw his finger press into the trigger. I lunged, hook out and extended on my sword. I just barely managed to grab and wrenched the leg out from under the table as the bullet cut through the air. The bullet missed, bouncing off a cart inside. Pitri now screaming on his side from the lurch and disconnect of the gate chemical.

Lieutenant Aho pounced on top of me. I bucked and thrashed, keeping him from pinning me. We were both weary and exhausted, but fighting desperately for someone. He cracked me in the skull with the butt of the gun, making spots swarm my vision. I couldn't focus and felt the barrel pressed to my teeth. Waiting for the end, I was surprised when snakes were suddenly hanging upside down over my head.

"She is mine." Honi whispered, her veil hanging off her yellow eyes over her snakes.

He didn't stand a chance and was turned to stone in slow agonizing process. He managed to get off me and take a few steps back in his fear before his last breath left him. His face forever a statue of dread and desperation.

Honi pulled away, righting herself and adjusting the veil back into place as fast as possible. She looked at me for a second, before pulling me into a hug. A hiccup wracked her tall frame, she was crying. I patted her awkwardly.

"I've...I've never...turned someone...someone to stone before." She managed to get out between sobs.

I didn't know what to do. The man deserved it and more. I couldn't remember how I had felt after my first kill, did I cry? It had been an Other, I know that, but did I cry for them the same way she cried for a human? I'm pretty sure not. So instead, I just patted her back.

A quiet moan of pain pulled me from comforting her. I extracted myself carefully, giving her a nod and smile, before crawling over to Pitri. After a moment, Honi joined me, her eyes still red and watering, but the sound had stopped. Together, we took care to unbind and lay Pitri onto the floor. He did not look well at all. If possible, he looked worse than when we came in. The gate chemical was supposed to be like a drug. I stared at the IV for a moment, hesitating. I could be wrong. I hoped I wasn't wrong. I re-stuck him with the needle. He seemed to relax, if just the slightest bit of less wrinkles of pain on his face. I'd take I supposed for now until we found a real doctor.

Sheathing my swords, I lifted him bridal style, careful to cradle his head. Honi took the IV bag and the gate gun. Together we walked slowly out of hell. The journey only paused to look for Blue, but her and Red's body were gone when we passed through. Accepting she must be gone, we continued out, making our way up out of the mine instead of how we had gotten in. On the top, it was a massacre. Humans were dead everywhere and being feasted upon by ghouls. They paused to look at us curious.

One shuffled forward sniffing. "Blood of prey." It licked it's lips.

I elongated my fangs, baring them with a hiss.

The ghoul laughed, an impish sound. "Don't worry prey. Prey helped ghouls get in fort. Ghouls will let you live today."

It shuffled away to continue eating. Honi and I exchanged a glance before hurrying forward faster. We exited without looking back at the destruction we had helped wrought and so fell one of the Hope's of Humanity.