The forest was swallowed by smoke.

There was nothing to see ahead, like a tunnel he would never escape. With each step, each breath, and each hair rising on his arm, Thomas could feel the change of seasons. His youth was gone; he would never meet it again. He would never be so happy, so carefree, so bored again. It shattered so quickly and so quietly, behind his back. He was running towards his past, knowing it was in ruins. Knowing he could never come back.

Knowing now it was too late to run.

“Hurry up!” Diane yelled. She was much faster than him, despite her bloody face. She was also more frenzied than him; he would later find out why. He would have probably been as alert if his past came rushing back, only changed; only true. She looked like an apparition swallowed by that gray; a moon maiden, a fairy, a monster with diamond jaws. He would let her eat him alive.

“I’m trying!” he yelled back.

Diane tried to wrestle with her memories; she knew she couldn’t win. She remembered, now more clearly than she wanted, the day she first met the Browns. There was a peculiarity in the air she could not explain; the tranquility mixed with fright, as if the emptiness that greeted her would become the only thing she would ever dream about. She hated him from the moment he had said his name.

“George Brown. It is a pleasure meeting you, Your Majesty.”

She had known, as young as she had been, that there would be no going back. He was the boy she had been told about every day since she was six. She would love him, and with the power of that love change the world. She would love him, and with the power of that love root out the misery in this gray world. She had to love him, or everything would be destroyed.

And she did. There was nothing but ash left. If only she had known, she wouldn’t have wasted her life in doubt. She would have learned how to speak her mind. Now she was running away. Again.

In the twenty or so years of her life, she had only made a handful of choices; if even one of them was real and not someone's game, she promised herself, she would be content. Yes, there was one. When she let George's father come with her to fight. When George asked her to eat her words and go back home. When she listened to the sound of Demon bones breaking, when she smelled the old man's blood. He was not truly old, but it was easier to remember him a little grayer. Like he would have died soon anyway. Like it wasn't a horrible first choice. Or a handful of them.

A peculiar age it truly was, back then and now. Older, but never the wiser. She was crunching ash with her battle shoes, beginning for somebody, anybody other than Clara Heal, to tell her what decision to make.

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Because all the choices she had ever made ended in complete silence.

Yes, he should have killed her back then. That was their first crack. He should have killed her then and there, the Judge had told him when she found out. But Clara Heal had had another perfect plan: to make Diane desperate enough to go against reason and think she was fighting against Destiny herself. To kill every single creature Diane had as much as glanced at until the princess had completely lost her mind and decided to seek George's assistance. She must have rejoiced at the sound of the princess’s heart whenever certain gray eyes would look at her. It meant one more pawn to be destroyed. He would be the first one she kills off once Diane finds the Swan. But why would she cling onto Diane Hunster so desperately? Why not kill her too, while she’s at it? Well, that’s because no one can kill Diane Hunster; it is not in their bones.

Now, there was a situation. This was not a crack, no, it was larger than that. Larger than life. An escape rute.

Diane Hunster was also once a teenager. Back when she was sick of feeling inferior to the Judge, the great Diane Hunser hid a little truth. And as she grew older, she realized that it was the best decision of her life.

She knew Meredith was the Vulture, but everyone knew that. But she also knew the Swan. Diane could remember her know. And she was the only one. That meant one thing: she was still useful. They couldn’t find the Swan without her. They would have to let her live. And maybe… just maybe…

I could finally find a way out.

“Are they dead?” Thomas asked her suddenly. He had developed a habit of believing she always had an answer.

They were a turn away from his street. He couldn’t feel his legs anymore.

She didn’t need to answer. Once they saw limbs scattered around the street, smoke, and fire gobbling up the nearby houses, it was all very clear. Thomas stopped and looked at the hole that replaced his home. There was dust, blood, and fire. The entire town seemed to have gathered to look at the misfortune; some Ravens Diane didn't recognize were mixed in with the crowd, observing their every move. Diane was a tad more collected, having, unfortunately, put the pieces together before Thomas Hammer. She saw Elaine’s revolting smile in every drop of blood and heard her voice in every stranger’s shriek.

“She did this on purpose. It was a beginner’s mistake. Your being alive right now is…” His face told her to stop talking. She hated how fresh all those feelings still were in her. At least she had a body to bury. She would have buried his too, if not for a… miracle. Elaine wanted him dead. Ealine wanted her in the gutter. Elaine wanted…

“I will make them pay,” he said, softly, as the fire in his eyes was extinguished.

“Don’t you see?” she mumbled. “This is all there is to it. Someone lives and someone dies. It’s one big magic ring. Don’t get sucked in.”

“But…”

“Don’t.”

“Easy for you to say,” he replied. “You have a choice. A year’s worth of choices. And what do I have? What do I have now?”

She took Thomas’s hand, but he didn’t look at her. He just stood and watched. She buried her head in his chest. He knew it too. That was when he broke down.

He was the last thing she had to lose.