Doomsday, now you've come. You've arrived to erase injustice, to give freedom to those afraid to ask for it. Freedom in life, or, the freedom that lies in death?

Who would make that choice?

I wonder, and I wondered, and I'll always wonder.

The ten-minutes battle.

Merit approached Cain like a leaf, she was trained to always be easy with the wind and flow with it, never tense her muscles or allow her emotions to exist during battle, she was told not only to act like a leaf, but to be the leaf, the leaf that falls but never dies, because it can't be killed.

On the other hand, Cain's aiming was superior, he didn't allow Merit to come closer to him, he'd fire so quick and so close to his target making Merit's energy wasted on evading his bullets.

She had to think of a strategy to take away at least one gun, it was impossible for her to get him with her knives when he's completely guarded like that. Merit quickly thought of disarming him by throwing a sound bomb, a small bomb as the size of a grape fruit that only causes sound, which would distract him for a second thinking he's shot.

Merit threw at his left leg, and as soon as the bomb exploded, he didn't even flinch, and Merit just starred at him, "What the fuck?" she muttered.

"You're good at evading, but as a fighter, you're inexperienced." Cain said, reloading his left gun, Merit took the chance quickly and threw a small knife at his left knee which he, surprisingly, couldn't evade.

"You, you bitch!" He cried, almost tripping but still standing. The airship's timer displayed three minutes till impact, the two exchanged blows for two more minutes but nothing was achieved. The airplane with right behind Merit, meaning that it'd mostly kill her, Cain didn't back down, but he finally ran out of ammo.

"Now we can fight" Breathless Merit said, bursting at him. Her knife skills were superior and he could hardly keep up with her, he resisted her attacks with his knife but she had too, and as the timer displayed fifty seconds till crash, and Titan already appeared in the distance, Merit feared the immediate death the two of them would have as she realized Cain was here to fight to death.

"You're truly stupid to pick a fight with me on the end of the world!" She screamed, mustering all the strength she had and pushing him back and back as he struggled to fight her due to his injured leg, she took his knife away by kicking his right hand and quickly she ran as hard as she can till both of them fell of the building, Merit took shelter by making him her landing pillow.

And her plan worked.

The two fell off the building and Cain took the impact, he was weaker than he displayed himself to be. Something about this man was fragile, but not anymore, because whatever was left of him can't do him any good.

Not even a second later, a huge explosion occurred and a flame rose, the windows busted and the glass shards stabbed Merit in her hand and face, she screamed in pain she got off Cain's body and quickly tried to take off that glass shard in her face, she panicked because upon touching it she could tell it was big, but not fully penetrating her face. She breathed heavily, "Do it, do it.." She cried and quickly took it out, "FUCK!" She screamed, throwing the glass shard away and holding her wound, the other glass shard didn't take her a second to take off as it was very small and didn't hurt her. She had no time to process the shook and decided to run back to Lydia, Andres and Elijah, but in the midst of The Titans noise and the loud screams of those who couldn't take any shelter and the burning rebels who are dying in their ships, she suddenly heard a cry coming from beside her, it was Cain.

"I didn't want any of this.." He cried, coughing blood. Merit's heart wasn't made of stone, and her empathy towards him made her decide to be there for him as he takes his last breath.

"Do you want to say something?" Merit said, kneeling beside him, she knew he was harmless and definitely dying.

"Don't hurt her, I beg you." He cried, Merit sighed knowing he meant Corelight, "Why does it matter?" She calmly said, he coughed more blood, "Because I love her." He cried, 'The curse of feelings, I shouldn't have had it, they programmed us to be dead-hearted, absolutely-absolutely heartless, but we-we somehow loved, hated and ...and hoped.." He cried, Merit held him close, "You..you are a-a robot..?" Merit asked, he cried and nodded, "A robot with a heart, can you imagine, young one?" He said, Merit felt her heart sink deep into her chest, a robot with a heart? How cruel could they be?

"I'm sorry..I'm so sorry.." Merit said, trying to give him comfort in his death. "I wanted her to be with me forever, they hated my emotions and took her away from me..cruel..I hate-" Cain cried and coughed more of what turned out to be a blood like-liquid, "I hate humans." He cried one last time as his dead eyes starred at the empty sky, he died in her arms holding on to his love, and his hatred, hatred towards Merit's kind that she felt ashamed of.

"Strange world..truly strange.." Merit sighed, closing Cain's eyes and quickly putting a small bandage on the wound on her face and ran back to Lydia.

As Merit went back, the hole inside her chest grew wider, she can feel it, the pain it left behind was like a stone that grew like a cancer inside her chest, either leaving her heartless or in pain, processing those emotions were too hard for her. Merit carried the weight of all those she met, and it was heavy.

She hoped that this pain wouldn't turn her into a monster, the one Ross feared.

"Andres! You look well!" Merit said upon seeing Andres standing up completely fine, "You...don't.." Andres replied, she brushed it off. "He's dead." She said in a depressive tone, Lydia raised an eyebrow, "Are you..sad?" Lydia asked, she sighed and walked to Elijah, "I am pitiful." She replied, slapping Elijah hard to wake him up.

"Damn it, take it easy!" He cried, Merit held him from his collar, "Do you hear this??" She said, "That's Milasic's titan, and he's here to kill everyone, spit out what you have to say before we turn into smoked beef sandwiches." She threatened him, he huffed and rolled his eyes back.

"Fine, Corelight is waiting for you at Liberation square, or to be more precise, your corpse in Cain's hands" He said, Merit got up quickly.

"Liberation square it is!" She said, Andres and Lydia breathed heavily, "What about the titan? How are we gonna get there?" They asked, Merit took time to think.

"He's targeting airships and rebels, he wouldn't hurt civilians. We just need to stay of his sight." Merit said, "We can take the sewers route." Lydia said, everyone had a very disgusted look, but they all nodded in agreement, "We don't have any other choice.." Merit said, and so, they all got up, Andres leaned on Lydia and Merit held Elijah from his arm like a prisoner to which he smirked as usual, "What a pleasure." He said, Merit glared at him.

The children walked through hell, and they were no longer children, they were heroes, those who challenged gods and took them on with no hesitation.

Merit hated her companions to a certain extent, Elijah was her rival and he'll always be, Lydia was a traitor who she felt ashamed to let her in again, and Andres was a mystery she feared.

The Titan cleared the sky leaving what was underneath it in rubble, once he took down the last airship he was deactivated and stood still in the flames he had caused, everyone expected to fight him at some point but they could only be grateful that jet damage he caused didn't cause mass extinction, Merit and her companions took the sewers route where people took shelter, there, Chasers, workers, rebels and even Milasic force took shelter altogether in strange unity. Fear united them, and all of their ideologies melted once the clash begun, everyone wanted to live regardless of what happens above their shelter.

Andres took Elijah and walked on forward, Merit took the chance to talk to Lydia who knew what Merit was there to say.

"Why did you do it?" She asked, Lydia stuck her eyes to the ground in shame. "I had a debt, Merit, my Father's debt." Lydia said, "This lady wanted to meet you so bad, she said t-" Lydia said, Merit interrupted her, "Wait..THAT LADY!" Merit shouted, everyone starred at her, "That was Corelight!!" Merit said, "who?" Andres asked, "The one you meet in that brothel?" Elijah said, "Yes! I met her!" Merit shouted, then looked again at Elijah again, "How the fuck do you know?" She asked, he laughed, "I stalked you for a while." He said, Andres glared at him and told him to walk again, he sighed and the two of them walked once more.

"You sold me to someone who could've killed me, good job, Lydia." Merit said, Lydia shamefully stayed silent, "I didn't know who was she what she could do, she wanted to meet you so bad and I wanted to pay my debt." Lydia stuttered, Merit sighed, "I don't forgive you" Merit said, Lydia teared up quickly but Merit couldn't care less. "Once this is over, I don't want to ever see you again." Merit continued, "And if you think you have a chance to trick me again, then you're wrong, very wrong." Merit threatened Lydia who nodded and stayed silent, but Merit felt indescribable resentment towards her.

The last battle Merit will have is only hours away, and the hardest of choices will be made. Everything has come to an end, but Merit hopes it could be a good one.