"Kill him!"

Danny jumped up to join Cassie, shaking his finger at Lilith. "I no longer like you."

The fire within him sputtered and flickered at the sight of his friend before him. Declan was full on crying in pain. His skin had progressed from a bright red to a dingy gray. He almost looked  like a wax figure.

 The smoke filling the room had slowed from the billow to a mere trickle with each meditative breath through his nose. Michael reigned in the gut kick from the shock. He was supposed to be the experienced one. He couldn't let Lilith's words give him a hot head and make a stupid decision.

Beside him, Rene was shaking. She hadn't stood from the crouch position she landed in when driving the sword into the floor, but no more ice seemed to be forming. The encroaching cocoon that had enveloped Declan in tiny shards had stopped their progression just above his knees. Even still, it was likely he severe frost bite along his legs given the color of his skin. They were both waiting on the other, to scared to be the one who called it and pushed to far. What if they were wrong?

"Why do you think he's not human Lilith? And even then why should we kill him?"

The look Lilith gave him sent chills up his spine. However, he didn't cow away, standing his ground even if it was on quaking feet.

"I showed you on my camera. He has the same flicker as whatever was following you and from when they disappeared."

Danny balked at her straightforward answer. "Cameras glitch! Technology sucks sometimes, everyone knows that." 

"Not mine."

Michael resisted the urge to pull his hair out. He didn't know what to do. Maybe Declan did have something done to him and that was why it had the same flicker. Maybe Lilith was too reliant on her tech and it really had glitched in a similar way. It wasn't fair. Declan's life was being held on by maybes. His eyes trailed to Rene, a magnetic pull he couldn't fight. She was quaking, her green eyes almost black in terror. He couldn't leave this decision to her. It would break her apart.

"I..."

"Come on guys. This is stupid." Declan chattered, his skin frost-biting worse by the second. "If I had wanted to betray you or something wouldn't I have already?"

That was true. If Declan really wanted to hurt them, he had plenty of opportunities. However,  coincidences piled up against him with the glitch, the fact he had been missing, and that he had somehow found them. They needed some answers, so he asked again where had Declan been.

"I don't know!" Declan voiced pitched to a higher tone than Michael had ever heard in his fear, though it never turned to anger or accusation.

He was likely regret finding them at this point. If what Declan claimed was in fact true, then it probably appeared all of them had jumped off the deep end of crazy. Still Declan didn't say that as he begged for his life and their understanding. It was very Declan. Despite what everyone thought and what he said, he didn't call him Stick because he had a stick up the ass...well it wasn't solely anyway. He called him Stick because he was someone who stuck to his guns and ideals within the Asylum. 

Declan wrapped his arms around himself, clinging to the escaping warmth. "I just woke up outside of this hotel and I heard  you guys in here, so I knocked. That's all I have." 

Michael dug through his head, running through traps and betrayals he had both been actor and target of. Something was definitely off here, in more ways than one. He stepped forward calling forth fire to his palm and began de-icing Declan. He heard Rene crunch across the ice before she began chipping at it with a knife. They worked in silence, careful not to cause further damage. Lilith was screeching in an inhuman language. His ears began bleeding from it. He would have let her just get it out if not for the others.

"That's enough Lilith." Michael sent heat in controlled waves to melt the ice and maintain a constant heat where it had been removed. "I'm not saying I'm not suspicious still, but I'm not gonna just kill a friend over that."

She growled sending the hairs on his neck to attention. "You would've at one point."

He felt everyone's eyes shift to him, but he didn't flinch. His movements remained steady in their task and his flames bright. Lilith was right of course. There was a time he would've killed someone over this, be it friend, foe, or just random by-stander; however, things had changed. He had left the organization for a reason and despite the epic and romantic fantasies he told himself, it wasn't just because of a girl. He had been having his doubts for a while.

Once free, Declan buckled from the injuries and freezing. Michael caught him and drug him to the bed. Propping him up against the head board, he sent Cassie and Danny out for medical supplies. Rene turned up the heat in the hotel room, despite the hot day outside. One step at a time, they needed to take this one step at a time.

Gez. Who was the idiots that decided young adults, most not even able to drink, were the best line of defense against the end of the world. Seriously would it kill those running the universe to pick mature adults that don't have raging hormones and not to mention mental health issues. Life sucked sometimes.

Once disinfected, bandaged, and warmed, Declan looked much better. It didn't appear anything had been too serious from either Rene or Kara, though he may have a broken rib from the delicate way he moved. He now munched on a slice of pepperoni pizza. In exhaustion from everything, Danny had announced pizza would be delivered so flippantly after ordering it online that he couldn't help but laugh. If he didn't know any better, the moment was so mundane with them all eating pizza in a hotel room, he'd think they were a bunch of kids on vacation. Still it was a moment that couldn't last forever. 

"Well this has been a roller coaster, and I for one am sick of riding." Danny tossed his crust in the trash. "Who broke a mirror and brought us this shit show?"

Cassie sighed, picking pepperonis off her pizza and giving them to Rene. "It's definitely the most messed up fantasy movie I've ever heard of. Definitely would not recommend, heroes aren't supposed to not get the happy ending. Plus where are all our hints by like help, hot guides and cool items we are gifted while traveling through exotic local in extravagance. This quest sucks."

"Sorry." Rene muttered in defeat.

Cassie waved her hands frantic upon realizing how it came off. "No one blames you. This isn't your fault by any stretch of the means."

"Life just has a sick sense of humor." Danny agreed.

The slump of Rene's shoulders though suggested she didn't agree. Who's fault really was all this? Hard to say, he was the one who brought Lilith back with him and who Kara had been trying to kill in the first place then again that was all tied back to the organization. Sure everyone was chasing them because of Rene having Kai and Karo on her, but that wasn't her fault. They randomly chose a host and people didn't have to be jerks and try to steal them from her.

Lilith at least had calmed down after being given peppermints and Code Red Mountain Dew Danny and Cassie had bought while getting the medical supplies. She seemed content on her phone playing some bright, flashing game.

"Over a week, really?" Declan rubbed at his head after the catch-up session. "That doesn't make any sense."

"And yet here we are. Besides, when is the last time our lives made sense." Rene replied.

"And Kai and Karo don't know what is going on?" His voice sounded hopeful and desperate despite his once hesitant reaction to the dragons.

Rene hummed, giving a non-committal shrug. "Hard to say. My head has been all messed up for a while, and I mean more than normal. It's different from when I shoved them away when I got mad. It's more like someone moved everything around without telling me and I'm trying to find stuff in the dark. On top of that communication is through a bad signal so I only get feelings or bits of words. I'm pretty sure it was caused by the Kara and that Two-Faced Queen."

A light seemed to shift briefly behind Declan's eyes. He had seen the same thing the first time Rene had explained the Two-Faced Queen to him. Michael glanced at Lilith to see if she had noticed as well. Lilith though was glued to her screen. Perhaps it was just a trick of the light, then again given everything it tickled at his suspicions further.

"We aren't going to kill him and I don't get to play with dragons. What use are you all again?" Lilith finally peeled her eyes away from the screen to stare down the party. "I mean this really wasn't worth the effort to have left my lair."

"Then go back." Rene twitched, she looked ready to fight despite the obvious wear on her face from the day's events.

Lilith waved her hand dismissing her comment. "Just let me pull him apart to see what he is and it will be all forgiven."

Rene fumed, letting loose a string of expletives to make a sailor blush. She was definitely getting more colorful in her word choice after having met her mother. Cassie flitted about trying to comfort her while Danny laughed so hard he fell of his chair.

"Do you really think I'm not human?" Declan interrupted her tirade, giving everyone pause.

"Something about you is." She got in his face, head cocking back and forth.

Her red eyes flashed and the room became draped in a shade of red. Rene held up her hands in shock, examining them. Danny blinked furiously, rubbing at his eyes. It was a unique ability of Lilith's, her way of encompassing a room and scanning everything in it. He scrubbed at his arms, self-conscious. He never knew at what depth those eyes were looking, but it felt him feeling like his skin was being peeled off to see what made him tick. The red receded back into Lilith after a minute or so. Her eyes fluttering shut.

"Definitely not entirely human."

"Could it have been something the Asylum did?" Michael questioned.

Maybe this was just something they couldn't escape, ever. He had an inkling that something had been done to Cassie and Danny prior to her confession, but hadn't pressed. It made it easier if they all just ignored it. Now though everything seemed to have been infested by the plague of the Asylum. It put them all on a lot of bad radars. Like tended to attract like, who knows what would next be coming after them.

Lilith walked away, popping another peppermint in her mouth. "I doubt it. From my recon, that place was a shit show populated by weaklings. On the other hand, whatever presence I sense is strong enough to stand toe-to-toe with me if not surpass me."

"Hey! Those so called weaklings did human experiments and almost killed us!" Rene shot up from her seat, hand twitching to pull a tattoo.

"Exactly. Kid stuff."

Michael ran a hand through his hair, blocking out the new match. Given Lilith seemed to be enjoying aggravating Rene, it was unlikely she'd kill her. He'd have to apologize to Rene though later that's for sure. He was going to be in the dog house for bringing Lilith at this rate. Regardless of the insensitive phrasing, Lilith had a point. The heaviest hitter the Asylum had was Scarlet and even she could only be described as a minority old-world deity at best. Something to irk Lilith this much was on a whole other level and they didn't know what it was or what it wanted.

Declan had sunk into a dark quiet. His eyes twitching as he stared at his own clasped hands. Man pour guy had really been shoved off the deep end of crazy. They could go to Fiction and recruit a mind reader, but that had so many potential bad outcomes and strings attached it made him twitchy. Still, he couldn't completely veto the idea yet. Whatever the thing was didn't appear to want to help them, given it let Declan get beat up by Kara. It also didn't seem to be actively fighting against them. It was more like a creepy stalker.

A loud groan escaped him as he raked his hands back and forth on his scalp. He couldn't figure out what to do. How was he supposed to keep them all safe at this rate?

"Maybe you should kill me."

The shouting stopped and a slap cracked through the air. Declan held his cheek as Cassie glared at him. "Don't be stupid. Rule number one of being part of our group, we don't let each other die. No matter how much of an easier way out it may seem."

Danny grinned. "She's got a point. Even in our lowest lows and our darkest hours, when the light at the end of the tunnel seemed the only way through."

"When not existing seemed the cheat code to beat the game to reach an ending at least even if it isn't a fairy tale one, we never take it." Rene laughed with tears in her eyes. "Like it or not you can't now either, we may court death but never accept it's embrace. Because if you do, we'll be so pissed we'll figure out necromancy and drag you back to life just to kill you. We stay alive for each other. Cass, Danny, and I made a pact. And now that you are one of us, whether it's your will or not, you better just keep fighting even when you don't think you can anymore. We will have your back and drag you through another step forward."

Michael froze, taking a deep breath and stood up letting his hands fall from their franticiness to rest behind his head. "And you call me cheesy Sparky. Well, ya heard her Stick gotta keep playing the game."