When she came back to herself, Inyssa could barely move.

Her whole body felt numb and weightless, and though she wasn't in as much pain as last time she'd been hit by lightning, this was hardly ideal either. With incredible effort, she pushed herself to her knees and forced her eyes open.

They weren't in the roof anymore. Thunder had shattered the stone into dozens of pieces, which now lay all throughout the highest floor of the tower. Slowly, her neck hurting like a bitch, she looked around to find that Darkrai and Cresselia weren't bound by chains of darkness anymore. Both of them lay against the cracked wall, immobile.

Hail began to fall into the room. Inyssa let out a deep grunt as she rose to her feet and tried her best not to tumble back down again, her knees shaking as though they were made of jello.

Where… Where is…?

She found her by the thin trail of smoke rising up from her chest. Inyssa's veins turned to ice. Her sister lay against a broken, jagged piece of the wall that looked as though it would tumble back over the edge at any moment. Her cloak was in tatters. There was a hole the size of her fist in the spot where lightning had struck her, and under it the skin was charred black, hundreds of veins of red exploding outwards from the center.

Her eyes were wide open. They weren't that terrifying, icy blue anymore, but Shadi's normal shade of pale green.

Getting paler by the second.

"Shadi…"

Inyssa walked as though on autopilot, eyes wide, heart beating in her ears. The air was thick with the smell of ozone and charred skin. Somehow, despite every cell in her body crying out in agony, she made it to where her sister was, and fell to her knees in front of her.

Her chest wasn't moving. That… no, of course not. That wasn't true. Inyssa laughed and shook her head, pushing the thought away, pushing all thoughts, every single one, leaving her nothing but an empty body driven to move by nothing but instinct.

Uxie said something in her mind, but she ignored it.

She didn't know why exactly, but she slipped her hand into the pocket of her cloak. Something rough and heavy met her fingers. She pulled it out. It was a plate of black stone, made of the same material as most of the houses she'd seen in Celestic, that odd mineral that reflected the light of the sun. The Dread Plate. This was… What she'd been trying to…

"Ghk!"

Suddenly, the plate turned incredibly cold, and by reflex Inyssa let go of it. It fell to the ground and shattered on impact. Not like glass or even frail stone. No, it… it was reduced to dust, and then the dust itself disappeared into the air, as though the plate had never existed to begin with.

"W-what…?"

A shadow passed over her. It crawled through the ground until it reached Darkrai, and became one with it. Immediately, Inyssa felt him. The same presence she'd felt coming from Shadi before, only now exuding from Darkrai's body.

And yet he did not wake. Had the thunder left him unconscious as well? Just like it had…?

She closed her eyes and grit her teeth, but the thought didn't want to go away. Slowly, fearfully, she turned toward her sister once more, and couldn't help but notice that she still wasn't breathing. Her hands began to shake. Tears welled up in her eyes and she started breathing so fast and hard that it felt like no air was reaching her lungs at all.

She wasn't… she hadn't…

P-please… I didn't want… This wasn't supposed to…

Then, Shadi gasped.

Inyssa let out a yelp and fell back, eyes shooting wide open, her muscles tensing in preparation. But Shadi did not attack. She didn't wake up furious or confused or in pain. Instead, she simply opened her eyes as though waking up from a long nap, looked up to Inyssa, and smiled.

Except that wasn't her sister's smile. And those weren't her sister's eyes. Another sob left her lips, this one of terror.

"I don't know if you have any idea what you just did, child," said a voice through her sister's lips. It was soft and tender, yet mocking. "But regardless… Thank you. Allow me to make up for i–"

Another gasp. This time, Shadi closed her eyes and jerked in place, muscles tensing, hands balling into fists, a sudden, panicked breath being taken. This time, Inyssa knew immediately, it really was her sister.

That really shouldn't have made her relieved in any way. And yet what had just spoken through her…

"What… What'd you…"

Shadi leaned back against the cracking wall, lips shaking, terror in her eyes. Her entire body shook with pain. But despite all that, the first thing she did was slip her hand into her pocket with urgency.

She found nothing inside, and her eyes went wide.

"W-what did you do?" she asked, fearful at first, but soon her voice was overcome with rage. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Inyssa had no chance to reply before Shadi threw herself at her.

"Look out!" Uxie warned her.

"Aghk!"

Despite being in somewhat better physical condition than Shadi and having an extra arm than her, Inyssa couldn't shake her off. They fell to the ground in a heap. Shadi grabbed at her collar, at her skin, at her throat. She attacked her in a wild, fearful panic, looking as though she was unsure if to punch her or choke her.

Inyssa, on her part, couldn't move. She knew that she was stronger, that she should've been able to push Shadi off her. But the sight of her hand flying toward her, the feel of her sister's skin against her own… her body froze involuntarily. She could do little as Shadi threw back her hand with a crazed expression of rage, ready to punch her.

Except, as she threw her fist down, a form of pure light formed around Inyssa, and the punch bounced against it.

"A-agh!"

Shadi was thrown back. Inyssa blinked a couple times, confused, then looked up at what had formed around her. At first she'd thought it was a small dome but… Were those arms? And was that a head at the top? The light was so blinding that it was hard to tell, but the creature encompassing her looked almost like a Gol–

"A-AAGH! SHIT!"

A sudden, sharp agony flared in her eyes and she had no choice but to close them, hands pressing tightly against her face. Immediately, the guardian of light vanished. Inyssa felt something warm and sticky run down her fingers. Blood.

"Y-you… How dare you…"

Now seeing her chance, Shadi let out another furious, panicked cry and threw herself at Inyssa once more.

There was a sharp whistling, followed by a wet piercing sound and then a choked gasp. Both Shadi and Inyssa looked in shock at the long, thin spike of metal jutting out from under her chest.

"G-got you…"

The weapon retracted, and Shadi let out a gasp as she fell to the side, blood starting to stain her shirt in the spots where she'd been pierced. She turned her head to where it had come from, and Inyssa did the same a moment after.

Mars was on her knees, lifting up with one hand the slab of rock she'd been laying under, blood and dust and grime covering her all over. Her other arm, an Escavalier's lance, was slowly returning to its normal form. An arm which, Inyssa noticed once more, was quite paler than the rest of the woman's body.

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"I… I told you," whispered Mars. Her voice shook with effort, yet there was a smile on her face. "I'd strike you down… With your own hand."

Shadi opened her mouth to reply, eyes wide with fury, but then she froze. Slowly, her gaze moved up, beyond what was left of the wall, toward the night sky.

All pain and rage seemed to vanish from her, replaced instead by a deep, primal terror Inyssa had never seen on anyone. Shadi gasped and tried to get up, but fell again. Her body wouldn't answer. She began muttering something under her breath, her whole body shaking.

"N-no…. No, no nononono…" She shook her head violently, voice filled with panic. "N-not yet, no, I have to…"

"Not so fast!"

Mars threw her hand forward once more, but just then Shadi slipped her hand into her cloak's other pocket.

The lance bounced off the air around Shadi. She pulled something out, something… Inyssa squinted. She was staring right at it. She saw it clearly, and yet her mind couldn't quite process what the object was, nor what it looked like.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" yelled Shadi, yet her words didn't sound directed at Mars. "I won't late you take me yet!"

Her shadow became thicker, liquid. And before Inyssa or Mars or anyone else could stop her, Shadi fell into it, disappearing completely.

----------------------------------------

Shadi stumbled out of the shadows and fell in a heap on the ground. Her vision swam. A heavy, cold exhaustion clung to her body, which seemed to want nothing but to regain all the sleep she'd been depriving it of.

The scent of blood and ozone stuck to her nostrils. Her consciousness threatened to fade.

Not now, god dammit. Not now!

She pressed her palm against the stab wound under her chest, the sudden pain and the wet feeling of blood running through her fingers waking her body up. Rising to her knees was torture. Every bone and muscle in her body felt like it was made of thorns. She was in so much pain…

"C-COME ON!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, pushing herself up with all her strength. "Move!"

She stumbled forward more than she walked, but she couldn't worry about such specifics. Not with that thing chasing her. As long as she could get to Midir, as long as she had that flame at her side… even without Darkrai, she might be able to…

To…

A shiver ran through her body as she stepped into Valor Lakefront. Confusion, followed by fear.

"W-wh…?"

She'd expected the ground to be burnt and broken up, she expected to see stains of blood all over, she expected steam to rise from every surface, distorting the air into a cloudy haze.

But she didn't expect the place to be completely empty.

"Where… where is everyone?" her whisper was barely audible, voice shaking with pain and fear. "M-Midir? Midir! Where–?"

A reflection in the water caught her gaze, and Shadi felt as though her heart had stopped.

"MIDIR!"

She ran forward, and though her body should have collapsed under such an act, she forced it to keep working, to ignore the pain and get her where she needed to be. She didn't feel the pain anymore. All she felt was a cold, all-encompassing dread as she fell to her knees in front of the lake's shore and looked into its clean, see-through surface.

Midir lay at the very bottom. Blood rose in small trails from a number of wounds, clouding the pristine lake, turning parts of it a dark crimson. She wasn't breathing. The flame on her tail had gone out.

"O-oh god… M-Midir…" Her voice was a sobbing, shaking mess. "Wh– How…"

A sudden, hot rage threatened to overtake her, but it was quickly snuffed out by… something else.

"Agh!"

She fell back, clutching at her chest in agony. She felt it… No, she heard it. It was a quiet, distant sound, like the creaking of a thread as it was being pulled, just before snapping. The object in the pocket of her cloak seemed to resonate with the sound, humming next to her chest, matching the rhythm of her heartbeat, as though it were slowly siphoning it away.

The sound was constant. And it was getting ever louder and closer.

Shadi knew that she should have run. Maybe teleport back to Snowpoint, try to take Darkrai back by force. It was an almost impossible task and she would surely be killed, but she was bleeding out anyway and who knew how much damage that thunder had done? She had to do something.

But as her mind began to buzz and whir in an effort to come up with a solution, the rest of her simply… gave up.

Shadi closed her eyes, but even then the image of Midir's lifeless body wouldn't leave her.

If it's not with her… If she can't be at my side when I win… what's the point?

Her breathing slowed, becoming shallow. All her adrenaline fading, it suddenly became very difficult to even remain seated, the cloudiness in her vision getting worse and worse with every second that passed.

I… d-dammit! I was so close… I thought I'd…

But even thoughts began to fade, and soon the only thing she felt with certainty was the warmth of the tears falling down her cheeks.

She'd underestimated them. All of them. It was that simple. And now she would pay for it with her–

"Ah… so it was you."

Shadi's eyes shot wide open, a second wind of energy suddenly bursting within her, mostly fueled by shock. She knew that voice. Even before looking up at the woman, her face scrunched up into anger and irritation.

"W-what the hell are you doing here?"

Sanbica Dusk looked down at her, arms folded behind her back, the bright violet of her eyes gleaming like amethysts. Her face was pale and expressionless. There was a brief movement in her lips as though she'd been about to smile, but decided not to.

"The stars told me to be here tonight," she explained, a dark, twisted musicality to her voice. "But I have to say, I didn't think I'd run into you, nor that I would find you in such a state."

Shadi clutched at her chest protectively, which the woman didn't fail to notice. There was a sudden gleam in her eyes.

"We both came to the same conclusion, then."

"Go fuck yourself," Shadi spat out.

"Now, there's no need for that. Yes, I realize now that my reason for being here is to retrieve what you borrowed from us, but that doesn't mean I have to let you die, you know."

There was a weight to her words that Shadi couldn't ignore. She opened her mouth to reply, but just then a violent coughing fit overcame her. Her body shook and spasmed. She pressed a hand against her mouth but nothing could stop the blood from coming out, running through her fingers in thin trails.

That cold, distant sound became louder. It echoed inside her head, drowning out her heartbeat entirely.

Sanbica raised an eyebrow. She didn't seem at all perturbed by what was happening to her.

"I could save you," she said, a hint of eagerness in her voice. "All you'd have to do is reconsider the offer we made you three years ago."

Shadi's coughing slowly morphed into laughing. It was hard to stay conscious. Hard to support what little of her body she was lifting up with one hand. But still she laughed, blood running down her mouth and chin.

"Ha… Haha… is the Institute r-really that starved for help… that they'd want someone like me?"

"It's been some time," nodded Sanbica. "But our eight spot remains empty. We could use your abilities, Shadi."

Shadi spat at her. The mouthful of blood and saliva didn't reach her, instead splatting in front of her feet, but the gesture was clear enough.

"That smug attitude of yours… it p-pisses me off so much. You're j-just like Fantina, only you lack all her class." She laughed at her own comment, every inch of her body shaking by now. "Just b-because you became their seventh Stigma doesn't m-mean I'll let you look down on me."

A sigh left Sanbica's lips. Far from taking offense to Shadi's attitude, she genuinely looked disappointed by her answer.

"Then I have no choice but to ask you to return the Griseous Orb to us. If you're carrying it with you when it claims you… I'm afraid it'll be lost."

Shadi didn't protest. Leaning forward, she grabbed the object from her cloak and threw it at Sanbica's feet. To anyone else, it would have looked like…nothing. An hole in the world. Like a blank space in an otherwise painted canvas. But to Shadi and Sanbica, it looked like a round, smooth crystal made of something that almost looked like amber

"There. Tell your boss to shove it up his ass."

Sanbica took her gloves off and knelt to pick it up. She moved the orb between her fingers, and if Shadi hadn't known about it beforehand, seeing the tattoos on her hands would have certainly surprised her. Small, black dots adorning the center and back of her palms. It looked as though someone had drilled a hole into them.

She examined the orb before nodding and saving it in her own pocket. Then she looked at Shadi with the emotion she hated the most. Pity.

"Are you sure about this?"

"…Yeah. If I'm g-going to die, I'll do it on my own terms. Not with a chain around m-my neck like you."

That, finally, put a smile on Sanbica's face. She let out a little giggle and shook her head.

"I respect that, but you're wrong about one thing," she said. "What's about to happen to you is so much worse than death. And I'm afraid that, as always, you'll end up making it everyone's problem."

That, at least, managed to put one last smile on Shadi's face. She didn't think she had it in her, but it was as good a way to go out as any, and certainly one that would ensure Sanbica didn't end up getting the last laugh. It was the best consolation she could get at this point.

"Then I guess I'll be forced to play the role of villain to the very end," she said with a smile of bloody teeth. "Fine by me. You can't teach an old Growlithe new tricks, isn't that right?"

A look of utter disappointment was poured into her like a bucket of icy water, but Shadi kept her smile firm, defiant. She would do so to the very end, and there was nothing Sanbica could say or do to change that. Even now as she felt the end coming, the jaws of Nothingness starting to close around her. The air grew darker and heavier, and suddenly the pain and exhaustion she was feeling became nothing next to the vast, cold emptiness that came over her.

A sound reached her. It sounded like singing.

"...Unbelievable," Sanbica whispered, more to herself than to Shadi. "...I met her, you know? Sometime in our shared past, and more recently, last time I swung by Hearthome. Our families have always been so close, after all. And you and I... If anything, we're living proof that the old adage is true."

And she looked at Shadi, and spoke a sentence like a dagger into her heart. And if the darkness encroaching upon her hadn't taken her away a moment after, then those words would have killed her on the spot instead.

"Daughters really do become their mothers, don't they?"

Shadi's smile broke right in the middle, both halves tumbling down like shards of glass straight down her throat. And for just a moment before she was taken away, Sanbica saw behind her eyes a hurt and ire that could've swallowed the entire world, raw and exposed as though she'd pulled her guts out with her own hands.

But then she closed her eyes, and did not see Shadi anymore, and after that moment nothing else would for all eternity. Of that she was... almost certain. There was another possibility, but...

"You know... it just occurred to me. A way for you to be saved from this. But after all you put that poor girl through..."

When she opened her eyes, Shadi was not there anymore. She'd never been, in a way.

"...I wouldn't count on it."