Verden had given them an hour to gather themselves. That's all Reyna absorbed from his words. An hour to gather the remains of her existence, the relief that Dante was alive, the disbelief that Gahn was dead, the songs of the power in her head. She was walking away from everyone before she even knew her legs moved.

She felt like she was in a void. Maybe she had never actually left the spirit world. Lys would appear any moment and attack her. Of course if that happened, Reyna would've screamed and given into the insanity that bit at her heels. She would've allowed to be torn in half if not for the mental relief of what she had gone through but at least for the silence. An end to the hum in her head, the miasma of whispers and hymns and whimpers. The sound of her dark blood.

A cry, a real one that wasn't from her deranged brain, caught her attention. The sobs came from behind one of the trees in front of her.

"Dante!" she said because even though Reyna had walked off alone, she knew Dante had been there with her, and suddenly the symphony in her mind dispersed. But when he paused by the trunk, eyes wide and mouth open, Reyna felt her heart stop.

"They're dead," she said even though she wasn't seeing what he was.

Oh god no. No.

She had never been able to sense death before, but she felt it now. It was a disappearing mist, like a fire losing its warmth. The waves shortened and wavered until all was cold and gone. But there was also another energy, and that one pulsed strong and vigorous. And familiar.

"Anna!" Reyna rushed to the base of the tree.

The dried blood on the little girl's brown face and arms looked like she had been messily finger painting only to grow bored and throw the sole color on the ground. The two corpses–one on each side of her—dismissed the innocent scenario Reyna wished was the actual truth. She took a step back as if what she was seeing was a force that pushed her.

"Diorela. Michael," she whispered.

The two teens were incomplete. Michael's legs were gone, one from the knee down and the other from the thigh down. The blood around him was fanned out with the clear strokes of a struggle. Dirorela's right side was entirely gone as if a giant blade had fallen from the sky, went through her head down to her groin, and whisked away half her body. Her left arm along with Michael's right clutched Anna with such ferocity Reyna felt the little girl would be held there forever.

"Just look at me, Anna, okay?" Dante's voice sounded far away.

Reyna saw in slow motion as he bent down to pick up Anna. No, Reyna wanted to say. No. Anna was stuck there, couldn't he see? She was stuck there forever in the arms of those that protected her. If he moved her now, Anna would disappear.

But he plucked her away and Anna wailed in his arms, her own clutched around his neck. She cried out the same phrase over and over and through Reyna didn't understand it, they rang like a prayer.

Verden came to heed it. He took Anna from Dante; she clung to him as if to commit him to memory and buried her head in his shoulder. Verden glanced at Diorela and Michael. His jaw set, bowing his head as he hugged Anna tighter.

"Reyna."

She felt a touch on her shoulder that jerked her out of her nightmarish haze where death was felt in her chest and perched on her friends' faces. Dante gazed at her. Shadows rested on his face, and his eyes screamed with the same turmoil that charred inside her.

"Let's go," he said.

Had they been heading somewhere to talk? Is that why she had started walking in the first place? She continued. Her steps felt heavy even though Dante's hand held hers, and when he stopped her, she welcomed it.

"Reyna, we have to talk," he said.

No. No more talking. She hated talking. Verden had already done that. And then, she remembered everything. They had to go into the demon world. "They" consisting of Verden, Radi, Mundus, and herself. Auronmar had told Verden where to find the Aqua Oscura fountain he made. There, Reyna would transfer her reign—if she could even call it that—to Radi, and someone from the dark blood family had to be there to do it. Verden and Radi were to be the king and queen, human and demon, and help lead the worlds to balance. All without asking Reyna if maybe she wanted to stay as a pillar. If maybe she would rather take it on than Verden who had already spent centuries helping humans without them even knowing it. So, no, Reyna didn't want to talk. But she knew she had to.

"Dante." Her voice cracked.

He ran a hand through her hair matted with sweat and blood. Through she felt dry flakes of filth fall down her neck, she relished his touch and the heat it seared her with. However, the words she knew he was going to say chased the warmth away.

"Don't do it," he said.

She played stupid. "Do what?"

"I know what you're thinking and Verden does too. He'll stop you."

Reyna's head hurt. It wasn't fair. Verden had done more than enough. She made the choice of eating the dumb flower and obtaining these powers that took her soul, or whatever it was, away. He never had one.

"Do you honestly think Mundus will let you?" Dante asked.

Oh. Playing the Mundus card. He was serious. Reyna let out a short sigh. She didn't know how long it would take to find the fountain, but she figured it was with enough time to somehow convince Mundus to be her partner. He had wanted it before, and hey, if he didn't want it anymore, maybe Reyna had a shot with Radi. The pillars had to be a demon and a human. No one said anything about a male and a female.

"No." Dante grabbed her shoulders. "You can't do this to me!"

She blinked and finally found her voice, loud and clear. "I'm doing this for you. To protect you!"

"You're leaving me."

"Because I'm going to outlive you!" She froze when she realized the true motive behind this plan she had manifested. It had come from her own selfishness. She had used Verden as an excuse. Lied to herself because she knew this plan to be a queen was to not face the reality of what the blood inside her meant. She couldn't bear to watch Dante age and die by her side. To have to live with nothing but memories of him, each lifetime diminishing their vividness. Diminishing him.

Reyna bit back a sob.

"I'm going to watch you die!" Her words bubbled from her mouth. "You saw what this power does to humans with Verden. It makes them age slower. I'm going to have to see you grow older while I stay the same. I'm going to watch you fall weaker and weaker until I'm going to have to be careful when holding your hand so not to hurt you. You're going to disappear before me while I just stay the fucking same! I...I can't, Dante! I can't just watch you die!"

"I don't care! I want you with me. Always." He grasped her head between his hands, forcing her to see him. "I want you with me. It'll hurt me more if you leave."

She placed a hand on his. "I..." His eyes held her gaze and she could only say what she felt at that moment. What had kept her intact since she opened her eyes to see she had lost an arm. What had crept on her each time she snuck into Dante's bed to steal his warmth. What had held her heart together when Gahn literally fell dead. "I love you, Dante."

He smiled. "I love you, too, Reyna. So much."

The elation she felt at his words gave her the courage to ask what she had shoved to the back of her mind since the taste of the dark blood flower hit her tongue. It had been a spark, a notion only briefly alive but incomplete and snuffed underfoot. "If I get you a flower, will you stay with me as a Dark Blood too?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "You know I would."

Not alone. Reyna would not be alone. She embraced him, allowing her selfish desires to mix with Dante's zeal and consume her.

Ayame and Dante's pouts were identical, knowing they were to be left behind. The fact that Anna stood between them holding their hands did nothing to lessen the sting of their glares. Reyna stood by the open portal that also leered at her, waiting for them to cross through. Cerus, Lina, and Flow weren't present, having left to find any survivors. Though Reyna felt suffocated with the haze of death she could now sense, she hadn't found the strength to tell Cerus his search would probably be in vain.

"I'm trusting you to take care of things here for me," Verden said to Ayame.

His words deepened her frown. "How long are you going to be gone?"

"I don't know. Auronmar gave me instructions on how to find the fountain, but I don't know the status of the demon world and how that'll affect things. We won't take long. We only have so much time."

"That didn't answer my question."

Verden gave a defeated sigh.

"Just don't do anything stupid." Ayame narrowed a glare at Mundus. Though the spirits had returned to their masters and regained their sanity, their memories still lingered.

Reyna also eyed Mundus. He was staring at something in the distance, but his eyes were vacant. He looked tired. He looked like Auronmar did whenever she had stolen the rare glance at him at his castle.

"Let us hurry," Radi said. She pushed off from the tree she had been leaning on. Reyna noticed the colors of a flame dyed her hair again and the sword by her hip was engulfed in flames.

"Wait," Verden said when she walked up to the portal. "We all need to cross together holding hands."

Radi held out her palm to him. His surprise was short-lived before he accepted it.

"Suerte've de guten," Anna's excited voice cut through as stepped up to Verden and Radi.

He placed a hand on her head and replied to her in demonic with a smile. Something in his words caused Radi to flinch. She watched with thoughtful eyes as Anna returned to Ayame and Dante.

Reyna grabbed Verden's free hand. "Come on."

He nodded. "Mundus?"

"Yes." His word was more of a statement than a reply. As he came up to them, his walk seemed weighted. He took Radi's hand. After Ayame and Dante gave their words of farewell and encouragement, he lead them through the portal and into the demon world.

It was as plain as always, Reyna noted when she opened her eyes, but the land was broken. Fissures blistered and cracked the ground, pushing masses of earth into jagged hills. Wedged in one of the cracks was an uprooted tree. Its red leaves were like bloody nails on knotted fingers that reached to an empty, black sky. Reyna was relieved to find it free of lighting, but the stillness of it all was overpowering. She missed Dante already.

"How shall we find this fountain?" Radi asked. She was the first to break their link.

Reyna cupped her missing arm as she surveyed the area again. She found several other trees trapped within the land's grasp, frozen. What if the fountain was stuck in the same way? What if the water was gone? She shook her head. No, she couldn't think like that. They'd come too far for it to end over something so...dumb.

"According to what Auronmar told me, we're searching for the copy of the fountain that he made," Verden said. "He said it was in his castle and since that is sealed in a way only those he wishes to see it will see it, that means we're going to rely on you, Reyna to help us get to it. You made things easier by giving yourself the see magika to find it."

Reyna heard the sarcasm and anger in his last sentence but chose to ignore it. "That's going to be difficult. I don't think I know how to use that magika in that way."

"We'll help you. All you have to do it find it, and we can head there."

"You all possess the ability to teleport, do you not? Let us hurry this and depart. Mundus, you may carry me to our destination once it is found," Radi said.

"Um, I also can't really do that," Reyna mumbled.

"Our power is not as great that we can instantaneously arrive to a destination. You should not compare us to Gahn," Mundus said.

Radi flinched.

"I am sorry," he said, "but it does not change my lack of mastery."

"Then our trek shall be slow. Exactly what we need." Radi crossed her arms.

"We'll get there in time. It's not that far, but-" Verden grimaced, his hand coming to his head.

Reyna frowned. "Verden?"

He collapsed and would have hit the ground if Mundus hadn't caught him.

"Verden!" Reyna rushed to him and helped Mundus set him on the ground. Though it was uneven, it still held it spongey nature Reyna remembered. She moved Verden's hair out of his closed eyes and released her healing waves on him, wishing her power could also tell her what ailed him.

Mundus scowled, panic flashing in his dark eyes. "What is wrong with him? His power has returned."

"Maybe that's what it is. He was the only one with magika. Maybe when it all returned it hurt him in some way?" Reyna sighed. Verden was the one with the answers.

"I believe he just needs rest."

"I hope so."

Mundus put his hand over her own that was releasing her healing magika. "You need rest too."

"As if we have time for that."

"We do. Enough for rest."

"You need to rest too after..."

After having your father and one of your best friends die.

"I'm so sorry, Mundus," she whispered.

He stared at her before a half-hearted smile pulled on his lips.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Reyna sighed and stopped her healing waves. Her magika aided physical wounds and Verden didn't seem to have any. She didn't think she was helping in any way. She sighed again.

Mundus looked at her. "Are you...all right?"

Her chest tightened knowing he was asking about Gahn. "I can grieve later. After all this."

He nodded. "We all grieve in our own way."

Reyna felt his words oddly specific. She turned around to see Radi sitting several yards away from them on a small mound of pushed up grass. She hadn't even noticed her absence. Still, there was something about the way she stared at the black sky that told Reyna she was worried about something. The way she had stared at Anna before they left visited Reyna's mind.

"Do you mind if I leave Verden with you for a little bit?" she asked Mundus.

She was on her feet and walking to Radi before he answered. It wasn't till she stood before the demon that she realized her tongue was stuck in her mouth.

"What is it?" Radi asked without looking at her.

Reyna decided to flat out ask it. "Is there something about Anna that concerns you?"

Her dark orange eyebrows knitted together. She stayed silent, but Reyna didn't get the sense that she wanted her to leave.

"It just seems that you're interested in her in some way," Reyna said.

"Why do you inquire of such a thing?" Radi still didn't look at her.

"It's just...I mean I don't know you, but it just seems odd that you would want anything to do with a little girl."

Radi smiled. It was sad and small. "It is not her that concerns me but what she said. What that little mortal did."

A pause.

"She had asked about Gahn," Radi said. "I saw her ask Verden about Gahn and when he said the words, 'He's gone,' to her, it was obvious she acknowledged he was dead. Her head bowed, and these large tears rolled down her stained face, but she was silent. I knew. I knew that idiot had connected with another life."

She looked at Reyna. "Had Gahn ever accounted to you how beloved he was? Even Mundus in his youthful days was awed by the prodigy teleporter. Though I am certain you know of what I speak. You seem acquainted with his charms yourself. As was I. However, I did not—I do not—deserve the warmth his life brings.

"The dark blood steals that essence which makes you return to the magika, return to another life. Gahn deserves such a chance to return and be reborn with someone that will not betray him. Such is a luxury I do not deserve which is why I shall become queen and take on this power that will forever erase me from his existence."

Reyna didn't know what to say to the outpour she heard, but she also figured Radi wasn't expecting a response. The demon returned her sight to the sky just as Reyna felt something that was starting to become a sickeningly familiar sensation.

"Dear! I found you!" The voice that uttered that word caused Reyna's stomach to tighten.

Purple locks flowed and curled through the air. A flourish of emerald cloth that dragged on the ground. Bare feet that pushed on the grass. And pale arms that were wrapped around Mundus.

"Mother?" he said.  

Hey! Another chapter! Yay! Really quick, I have two things I want to ask you that I really hope you answer for me. 

1. What do you guys think of the recent deaths? Was it written well? Was it lacking? Was there a death in particular that hit you hard? Or you didn't care? (Haha)

2. Do you prefer shorter chapters if the updates are quick or do you prefer to wait for long chapters? FYI, I consider 3k words or less short chapters.

Thanks for your replies and your support! <3