A tumultuous roar of sound captures the theatre like an inferno of terror. Kristoffer feels too nervous to watch, clamping his eyelids together like two magnets.

He's making a plan. He's going to pretend to injure some people who are magic and get away with it. Then, he will catch Strangelove off guard and tell her to surrender. Or he could kill her. But ruthlessness is not part of him. He feels a sharp tug on his shoulder. Niall's pale blue eyes were now shallow with no charismatic glint. His eyebrows are angled in fury.

'Come on Piercebridge? What are you doing?' He shrieks, fighting the urge to raise his hand to hit him.

'I'm sorry, I'll-'

'If you're getting cold feet, warm up.'

And with that, Niall leaves into the huge room. All Kristoffer can hear are the echoing yells, footsteps, screams, gunshots, and terror. His body acts on impulse, following after Niall. He stands in the chaos, eyes roving around quickly to find somebody to pretend to hurt.

No one meets his eyes.

He knows what he has to do.

He takes shots, taking down multiple people within minutes. He kicks, punches, throws, blocks, and does anything to keep himself alive for the first few fateful minutes. Within ten minutes, the floor is covered in bodies. He locks eyes with Alexis. Her cheeks are burning with rage and resentment, and she takes a fierce lunge at him, knocking him to the floor.

'You idiot! Why'd you bring them here?' She screams, tears falling from her eyes. She violently shakes his shoulders, 'I don't want to die! You're an idiot! You're...'

Kristoffer holds his hands near his head, showing he has no weapons he can access. Alexis loosens her grip. Kristoffer whispers his plan in her ear, finishing with, 'I'll cover for you if you pretend to be dead.'

'Okay,' Her voice is still trembling. He takes his gun out from his belt, shooting just past her shoulder and under her arm. She clutches her side with a fake yell, falling to the floor. She kicks against the floor, mobbing herself backward and propping herself up against the stage. Just before Alexis closes her eyes, she gives Kristoffer a glance of thankfulness. He returns it, grinning back at her. He talks to every last person he can find, pretending to take them down. He's able to find twenty people who comply and do some award-winning acting. He hides in the backstage area, continuing to formulate what to do.

1 minute ticks by

Nothing.

2 minutes tick by

Nothing.

3 minutes

Nothing.

4

Nothing.

5

6

7

8

Eight and a half minutes have passed when he hears a strangled yell from the theatre. He listens. Two familiar voices echo around his head.

'I'll ask again, where is Piercebridge?'

'I don't know! I don't...'

'Well, where could he be?'

'I... don't... Get off me!'

'I can burn those pretty little wings again if you want.'

'No! NO! NO! STOP! STOP STOP! St...'

Ashton's in danger and the only person who can help is Kristoffer. He can do nothing and let him die. Be a coward. Do what he was programmed to do. Or act for love.

He chooses the latter, practically flying out of the backstage area to help. He skids around a corner to see Niall's book pressed against Ashton's chest, gun pointed toward his head. Niall spots Kristoffer and grins, not moving the gun and his shoe.

'I'm here now. Get off of him,' Kristoffer threatens, eyes narrow and vengeful. Niall does not comply.

'And what if I don't?'

Kristoffer's eyes flit from Ashton's terrified face, Niall's gun, and Niall's triumphant face. He concludes.

'It's me or him,' He cooly says despite the pounding in his chest nearly being audible to the whole theatre. Niall's face softens, the insanity becoming a sultry expression. He lifts his foot off of Ashton but still doesn't move his gun, 'You hate me more. He's never done anything to you. What's it gonna be?'

'Kristoffer, please don't,' Ashton whispers. The terror in his eyes makes Kristoffer nearly die. Niall chuckles softly.

'You drive a hard bargain, Piercebridge,' He slowly moves the gun to his side, moving away from Ashton. The glint of insanity returns to his blue eyes, the crazed smile back on his lips. He holds the gun at arm's length, 'I'm giving you ten seconds to run.'

Kristoffer wants to just not move. He wants to stay with Ashton and make sure he's okay, that he isn't hurt, that he feels loved. He doesn't though, he'd rather not have this be his last day on Earth. He spins around almost instantly and runs away as swiftly as possible. He can hear nothing yet everything all at the same time. Niall's counting stops and he hears another set of rapid footsteps in pursuit of him.

Just as they begin to get closer and Kristoffer begins to pray for himself, he hears a disgusted scream followed by, 'AMI, call it off and come over here!'

Kristoffer follows her voice, his colleagues following. Some magical people come over as well, curiosity gripping their minds. Strangelove stands and points a gun at Eudora. She flips her gaze to Kristoffer.

'It was all a lie? You two let all these magical people out? You purposefully withheld information? And you know she was helping someone who's magic?' Her tone is quite yet spilling with anger. Kristoffer doesn't respond, fiddling with the gun in his belt. He looks up at Eudora, her face a mixture of worry, guilt, and desolation. Strangelove scoffs, 'Shoot her.'

'What? Why?'

'I said shoot her.'

Kristoffer lowers his hand slightly to pull out his gun. He points it at her, his finger shaking over the trigger. He can see Niall in the corner of his eye, worry clouding his face as well. Kristoffer's heart thuds out of his chest, wanting to be sick. He swallows his worry down. He places his finger on the trigger, but his body is frozen so he cannot shoot.

'Kristoffer, please don't do it,' Eudora's voice is barely audible and shakes in terror, 'We're friends, I'm on your side.'

'You're useless, Piercebridge,' Strangelove presses down on his hand, making him put his gun down, 'I'll do it myself.'

Before anyone can register what's happening, Strangelove lifts her gun, places her finger over the trigger

And she shoots.

This time it doesn't miss anything on purpose. It's right on target. Eudora collapses almost immediately. No one can notice her breathing. Her back isn't rising and falling. No sign of life can be detected.

She's dead.

Kristoffer didn't look. It was impossible for him. His head begins to be hammered at with an ice pick, anger swelling over his body. Niall stays statue still, but Kristoffer can see tears silently running down his face.

'Do you want to know who the magic person she helped was?' He asks furiously, his fists curled.

'I would.'

'Me.'

Strangelove can't tell if he's joking or not, cycling through a million emotions in about three seconds.

'You don't realise what you're doing just because of something you made up. Magic people aren't dangerous, they're just trying to keep themselves alive from people like us,' Kristoffer lets his mind spill from his mouth, 'Fighting for who they are doesn't make them less human. And we take away friends, family, kids, and... and partners. Do you think they'd have a calm reaction to us taking away people they care about?'

Kristoffer's voice raises above it's usual volume, echoing around the theatre. Strangelove opens her mouth to say something, but closes it again in shock, 'You don't care about safety like you say you do. All you care about is yourself and the bloodshed that follows you, and it's not fair that you can pay people to do the killing for you. Why is danger always a common experience with magic when all that's happened is nothing?'

At the last word, the ground begins to shake violently. Commotion stirs around the people, buzzing and pulsing. Terrified screams erupt from around, clashing on Kristoffer's ears. He turns his head to see one of his dragons. It is bigger than just the ones that curl around your palm. This one is probably able to protect a princess in a spire. Its scales are painted in shades of fiery red and orange, eyes gleaming like two emeralds out of its face. Its talons are chipped and yellowed, sharp enough to split a person in two from head to toe. It roars ferociously, a burning hot breath following it. It flaps into the ceiling, breaking it. The sky fights against it, using its hands to shove it back in, but nothing can control it. It begins to flap madly, chasing after everyone in the hall. The dragon breathes fire, singing the leftover seats.

Kristoffer lets himself go from the chaos. He needs to find Ashton. He finds himself running towards the place he found him. He's still there, now propped up against a piece of fallen concrete. He looks like he can't get up, his right leg lying in front of him.

'Did you get hurt?' Kristoffer falls to his side, hovering his palm above Ashton's.

'Yeah, Trenton got it. He stepped on it, but it can't be that bad,' He attempts to stand but Kristoffer keeps him down, 'Also, I didn't know you could do... that.'

'No, stay here. I don't want to put you in danger,' He warns. He holds Ashton's hand carefully, 'I'm staying with you. I don't want you to get hurt.'

'You'd do that for me?'

Their faces get closer and closer until they can feel each other's breath, eyes fluttering closed. Kristoffer runs his hand gently down Ashton's jaw, finally resting on his chin. He pulls him close by his waist.

'Anything.'

A kiss. A slow, lethargic, meaningful kiss. Something explodes behind them, the dragon roaring at an ear-shattering volume. Ashton's hand runs through Kristoffer's hair, screaming coming from around them. They pull away from each other, eyes unable to open for a few seconds. Kristoffer hears rapid footsteps behind him. He turns his head around to see Alexis, one eyebrow raised.

'Okay, not going to ask questions,' Alexis mutters. Ashton and Kristoffer quickly draw away from each other, 'Kristoffer, Cheri needs your help. She's close to our right, you'll be able to find her.'

'You stay with Ashton,' He stands from his space, almost ready to run away. Someone takes his hand behind him

'Kristoffer,' Ashton's voice is soft and slightly hoarse. Their fingers slip from each other, 'Be careful.'

He gives him a soft smile, 'I will.'

He begins to go left, eyes roving around for Cheri. He hears a strangled yell.

'Let go of me! Let go of my hand!' Cheri screams shrilly, fighting against an AMI employee. He is dangerously close to her blackened hand. His hand slips past it as Cheri gives him a brutal kick to the leg. As his finger skims her skin, it throws her about three feet in the air. Her powers are sensitive. Kristoffer just cushions her fall, her small body landing in his arms.

The two make a horrifying discovery. Cheri only has one hand left. They see a cloud of dust left behind where she last was. It has just... disintegrated.

'What just happened?' They say in unison.

'Well, it doesn't hurt,' Cheri shrugs it off, trying to stand up. Kristoffer isn't sure what to do.

'Cheri, Your hand is gone. Be serious now.'

'Nah.'

Kristoffer huffs and rolls his eyes. He feels as though he should let her go, but should also make sure she doesn't further injure herself. He decides to let her go; he has bigger things to worry about. He sees the AMI worker scramble away. Kristoffer grabs him by the collar.

'You leave her alone. Now go and never come back,' Kristoffer spits, his boot pressed against his throat. The man escapes from Kristoffer, climbing clumsily to his feet and running out of the theatre. He watches the dragon closely. It looks back at him with large, brave, slit-pupiled eyes. It flutters down to him, shrinking with every passing second. It fits in his palm.

He sucks in a breath and whispers.

'I want you to kill Strangelove.'

It bows its little head and flies away. It begins to grow as it goes, returning to its regular size of an enormous beast. He watches as it locates Strangelove. He returns to Ashton and Alexis to show it not to attack in their direction. It picks Strangelove up in its jaws gently, not biting down. She yells and screams, kicking at the creature. Her eyes flash a final look of terror at Kristoffer. He feels no remorse. His eyes flicker with fire.

The dragon throws Strangelove into the air, slamming her against the wall with its large tail.

'Stop! Stop! Strangelove's dead!' An unknown voice shouts. Kristoffer shrinks the dragon, heart thumping out of his chest as everyone crowds around the dead Strangelove.

She is finally gone.

Her reign of terror...

Over.