The light vanished in an instant, snapping out of existence as if something had crushed it between unseen fingers. In its place, red flooded everything; thick, suffocating, unnatural. It bled across the ground, soaked into the sky, clung to their skin. The warmth that had filled Leah's chest moments ago twisted into something unbearable, something choking.
The laughter stopped.
Not faded; stopped.
Cut clean in the middle of breath.
Frauner still stood in front of her.
Smiling.
But it wasn't right anymore.
His face didn't move, didn't breathe. The softness in his eyes was gone, replaced by something hollow, something distant, as if whatever had once been him was no longer there; only a shape wearing his expression.
Leah's body locked.
Her fingers trembled at her sides, but she couldn't lift them. Her throat tightened, breath catching halfway, refusing to come out.
"…no…" she whispered, barely a sound.
Frauner's head tilted slightly, the motion slow, unnatural, like something imitating a human gesture rather than understanding it.
Then he spoke.
"I died because of you."
The words didn't sound like his voice alone. They echoed, layered, deeper beneath the surface, dragging through her ears instead of reaching them cleanly.
Leah flinched as if struck.
"No.....no, that's not...."
"I loved you."
His smile widened.
Too far.
Too still.
Her chest tightened painfully, her heart pounding against her ribs as if trying to escape.
"Please… stop…"
"You became death."
The last word landed heavy, final.
Something broke.
His eyes;
They ruptured.
Dark red burst outward from them, not like tears but like pressure finally giving way. Blood streamed down his face in thick lines, spilling over his cheeks, dripping from his jaw. It didn't stop. It kept coming, faster, heavier, staining everything beneath him.
Leah stumbled backward, horror tearing through her.
"No.....FRAUNER!"
Her voice cracked into a scream.
She tried to reach him; her hand lifting, shaking; but her body felt distant, delayed, like she was moving through something thick and suffocating.
His armor began to split.
Hairline fractures crawled across the surface, spreading rapidly, jagged lines racing over his chest and shoulders. Then it gave way.
With a sharp, brittle crack, pieces broke apart and fell; not to the ground, but into nothing. They dissolved mid-air, turning into thin strands of pale mist.
His body followed.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Edges of him unraveling, peeling away into that same fog, his form losing shape, losing weight, becoming less and less real with every passing second.
Leah shook her head violently, tears spilling down her face.
"NO! Stay...stay with me....please!"
She stepped forward;
Reaching;
Grasping at something that was already gone.
Her fingers passed through him.
Cold.
Empty.
Frauner's form collapsed completely, dissolving into thin, drifting strands of white smoke that moved toward her.
Not away.
Toward.
Leah froze.
Her breath hitched sharply as the mist reached her face, brushing against her skin, slipping past her lips, her eyes.
She gasped, choking on nothing, her hands flying to her mouth as if she could stop it, as if she could push it away.
But it kept coming.
Through her.
Into her.
Her body trembled violently, knees threatening to give out as the last of him disappeared inside her, leaving nothing behind.
Nothing.
Only the echo of his words.
Only the weight of them.
"I died because of you."
Leah collapsed to her knees.
Her hands hit the ground hard, fingers digging into nothing, her entire body shaking as sobs tore out of her uncontrollably.
"I didn't… I didn't mean to… I didn't…"
Her voice broke apart, barely forming words anymore.
Her chest burned.
Her throat ached.
But the worst part;
Was that somewhere deep inside her;
She believed it.
Leah reached forward, her hand shaking as the last fragments of Frauner's form unraveled into pale strands of mist.
"I… I love you…" she tried to say;
But the words broke.
Her voice cracked halfway through, collapsing into a breathless whisper as her fingers passed through him, grasping nothing. The space where he had stood emptied, and the last traces of him slipped through her like cold smoke, leaving behind a hollow that felt deeper than pain.
Her chest tightened violently.
"No… please… don't go… I"
The words never finished.
Because the silence didn't stay silent.
Voices came.
More than one.
Layered.
Closer.
"…we died because of you."
Leah froze.
Her head lifted slowly, fear crawling up her spine as her breath turned shallow.
Mauris.
Henry.
They stood a short distance away.
Not whole.
Their forms were unstable, edges flickering, dissolving in places like something that couldn't fully exist.
Their eyes were fixed on her.
Empty.
Accusing.
"For your foolish desire to prove yourself," Mauris said, his voice cold, stripped of everything familiar.
Henry took a step forward; or something like a step, his body dragging slightly as if it resisted its own movement.
"You wanted to be strong," he said.
"And we paid for it."
Leah shook her head violently, tears spilling down her face.
"No.....no, that's not true.....I didn't....I never"
Their bodies began to break apart.
Melting.
Slowly.
Skin, armor, form; slipping downward like wax under heat, their shapes collapsing into thin strands of smoke that peeled away from them.
But their eyes stayed on her.
Even as the rest of them dissolved.
"We died because of you."
The words echoed long after their forms were gone.
Leah staggered back, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
"No… no… stop....please...!"
She turned;
Desperate;
Looking for something; someone; anything that wasn't this.
Thalia stood there.
Facing away.
Still.
Unmoving.
Relief hit Leah for a split second.
"Thalia…?"
Her voice broke again.
Thalia didn't respond.
Didn't move.
The silence stretched.
Then.....
Slowly;
Thalia turned.
Leah's breath caught in her throat.
Thalia's face.....
Tears were streaming down it.
But not clear.
Not normal.
Dark.
Thick.
Blood.
It spilled from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks in slow, heavy lines, dripping from her jaw.
Her expression;
Wasn't rage.
Wasn't even grief.
It was something deeper.
Something broken.
"I lost my brother because of you."
The words hit Leah like a physical blow.
She shook her head, stepping back.
"No… Thalia, listen"
"I lost my Daemian because of you."
Leah's legs weakened beneath her.
Her vision blurred with tears.
"I didn't...I was trying to...."
"Everything you touch… you destroy."
Thalia's voice deepened slightly; not fully human anymore, layered with something heavier beneath it.
"You are death."
Leah's breathing became erratic, sharp, panicked gasps that didn't feel like enough air.
"No; please....stop!"
Thalia took a step forward.
Blood still flowing from her eyes, more now, heavier, staining her clothes.
"I am dying now because of you."
Leah's entire body shook.
Her hands rose instinctively, as if to defend herself from the words, from the weight of them.
"Why…?" Thalia whispered.
Her voice cracked.
But the blood kept falling.
"Why did you kill us?"
Leah collapsed.
Her knees hit the ground hard, her hands following, barely catching her as her body gave in under the pressure.
"I didn't! I didn't kill you.....I didn't!"
Her voice broke into sobs.
Raw.
Desperate.
"I was trying to save you....I was trying!"
But the space around her didn't listen.
Didn't care.
The blood.
The voices.
The accusations....
They stayed.
And deep inside;
Something in her was starting to believe them.