Tears. Just tears. Run while you still can.
What she said.
You're running out of time.
I would say it's not all dark and gloomy, but that would be a lie...
Not to mention dear old Jenny...
You're talking behind my back?

A/N: Time to see what happened after Felix died... Are you ready?

-Riri<3

{Echo}

I told Celine and my brother to run and then I lost control. The moment they were safe, I could no longer hold myself. I started approaching the palace.

Beside me, lava exploded from the ground.

I could only feel rage, sorrow and guilt.

Lava erupted from a mountain in the background. All the soldiers were being burned to death slowly.

Their screams could be heard all over.

I didn't care.

The worst part is the details in which I remember everything. That week when I burned and burned was torture, especially after Felix's death. I couldn't belive he had done that.

He had promised not to leave me.

Before I met him I had walls built up inside of me. When we became friends he became those walls. Now he was dead and my walls had fallen. Everything I had bottled up all these years, every dark thought I had dismissed, everything that ever hurt me was free. I was falling apart.

Oliver had warned me. I wish he had been wrong.

I had ran to the the one room. Amon had been looking outside the window with shock plastered on his face. He was looking at all the destruction I was causing.

«Your men killed him. I spared your life! I let you run away!» I had shrieked at him. He just shook his head and laughed.

«Well, you shouldn't have done that.» he shrugged.

«I'm going to destroy everything you worked so hard to build. First of all, I know about your sister.» I had told him. The look in his face had been precious.

«You have no idea--»

«The prophecy. Tell me.»

«It's spoke of two Elementalists that would cause destruction in Imyrth. I just wanted to kill them all before that happened.»

«Oh, really? And what exactly was what you did? I want the exact words. I want to know why you did all this.» I had glared at him.

«I don't remember the exact words!»

«You don't remember your sister's dying words, but now I have to remember Felix's. You made huge mistake messing with us.»

«I don't care anymore. Just kill me already! Isn't that why you're here?» he had dared me with his arms open, waiting for me to attack.

«It would be a pity to kill you that easily. You have to suffer.» I spat at him.

Fire rose everywhere. He was gasping for oxygen.

I made it disappear. He took a deep breath.

I was just warming up.

Lava erupted and created a bubble around the palace. It was suddenly very hot from what I could see.

I didn't feel heat.

Amon had fallen on his knees. He was sweating a lot.

Then I sent the lava back where it came from and did to Amon what I had done to Earl, only this time, Felix wasn't there to stop me.

Felix was never going to be there for me again.

As I slowly burned Amon, I kept holding the necklace Felix had given me a couple months back. We were in this very room, standing at the same place I was standing when he had given it to me.

The bitter end.

Yeah, it was a bitter end indeed.

Amon was screaming in pain, but I ignored him. He hadn't expected that.

He thought I would just burst in and kill him.

He thought he would be lucky.

He thought wrong.

By night there was nothing left of him to burn, but I still couldn't control myself. I had gone completely out of hand.

There was no one to stop me.

I kept burning and burning. After a couple days it turned into torture. I couldn't stop it. This exhausted me.

Everything around me was turning to ash, but I kept burning.

The pain was unbearable, and not just the physical, but the emotional too.

For the last few days I was in a fireball. I couldn't make it stop.

I just wanted the pain to stop.

It had been a week. I was awake all the time, surrounded by fire. I could feel it burning me, but it didn't kill me. It didn't even leave any marks. It just hurt.

I wondered if my brother and Celine were okay. I wondered if this would ever stop. I wondered if I would ever see them again.

I was terrified.

I wished I had given Oliver and Celine the necklace so they wouldn't have to wait for me. What if I burned for the rest of my life? What if they kept waiting for someone that would never return?

I wasn't dead like Felix, but I wished I was. I was dying slowly.

Until one day it all stopped. My vocal cords were torn from the screaming. They had been for days.

The last thing I remember was falling on a pile of ash.

That was all that was left if the great palace of Imyrth.

*Celine*

We found Echo lying on the ash. We ran to her the moment we saw her.

If she was the only one intact in all that chaos of rocks and ash, she could also be alive.

Maybe we hadn't lost everyone yet.

I have to admit that I wasn't really optimistic when we set out to look for her. I thought she would be one more pile of ash among the hundreds of the ones she had created the past week.

There was nothing left.

Oliver checked if she was breathing.

He let out a sharp breath and nodded. We both ran our hands through our hair.

We tried to wake her, but she didn't budge. It reminded me of the good old days when we tried to run away from a hostel and she was sleeping.

Back when we were all alive and not suffering the loss of others.

We returned to the camp and took her to the infirmary. Most of the survivors had ran outside the moment they saw the smoke had cleared, so it wasn't very crowded.

There wasn't much we could do. We just assumed Echo would wake up at some point.

At night we packed our stuff and returned to earth.

Ari rushed through the door in the attic.

«I thought I heard you!» she said excitedly. Damon appeared behind her.

«Wait... One, two three... Where's Felix?» he asked. We shook our heads.

«What happened to him? What's wrong with Echo? We've been waiting for a week!» Ari asked.

We told them everything we knew. There was still Echo's side of the story, but she didn't wake up until the next evening. We hadn't told Jennifer we were back yet. If she saw her daughter half dead she would start asking questions about what happened.

Then she would ask who hurt her so she could give him an award.

Oliver seemed very reluctant about seeing her too. I think he was preparing for another fight. One whose loss would be emotional and would leave no scars.

We were all sitting quietly in the attic, when Echo gasped from her bed and shot up.

We all turned our heads and ran next to her.

«What happened? When did we get home?» she panted.

«How much do you remember?» Oliver made the mistake to ask. Echo's eyes grew big and then she broke down.

I hugged her.

«I know...» I told her and patted her back and head.

«How long has it been?» she gulped.

«A week. You burned for a week.» Oliver told her.

«It seemed like so much longer...» She let the tears fall down. We didn't ask her what had happened yet. She would tell us when she was ready.

«I know it's not the best time, but we haven't let mom know we're back yet. We can go whenever you're ready.» Oliver informed her.

It was weird seeing Echo so broken. I mean, we all pretty much knew she was. Felix had even started to repair her.

But we had never seen her break down like that. It was heartbreaking.

About an hour later we all went downstairs. Oliver and I hadn't left the attic at all, but it had only been a day, so...

Jennifer Waters ran to the stairs.

«Where have you two been? When did you come back? Who is that weird looking girl?» she yelled. I felt a little offended.

«Again, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me.» Echo told her coldly. Her cheeks were stained from the tears and she was much paler than usual.

«Yeah, that's not an answer.» her mom told her. Did she not see how awful Echo looked?

«Mom. Stop it. She's right, you wouldn't believe us.» Oliver told her in the same tone.

«Where did that attitude come from, young man?» Jennifer asked.

«Could you shut up for once and let us do the talking? Whenever you open your mouth there's so much rudeness coming out of it that I'm jealous.» Echo told her.

«We were in another dimension fighting your boyfriend, Amon.» Oliver added. I flinched upon hearing his name.

«We have proof.» Echo said. «I promised myself that I would never tell you about that, but I don't really care anymore.»

«I don't think you have any proof, Echo. On the other hand, I have proof that you are unstable.» Jennifer told her. Oh, God, did I hate that woman. I couldn't believe she was the twins' mother. Echo turned red and burst out crying again. Her mom was surprised at that.

«You know what? Shut your mouth.» Oliver snapped. «This is all your  fault. You made my sister bottle everything up. She didn't even trust me fully. There was only one person she told everything, and your boyfriend killed him. If you hadn't been so paranoid and cruel, none of this would be happening right now, but you know what? All these years you have been saying that you don't have a daughter and only have a son. Now you don't have a son either.» he spat at her.

«I knew I should have locked your sister away years ago. It turns out her madness is contagious.» Jennifer told him. She didn't even look hurt. Did she have no feelings?

«Maybe they got that from you. I never had a mother, but this is definitely not how a mother should act.» Ariadne told her.

«You don't deserve to be called a parent.» Damon shook his head disapprovingly.

«What does the freak have to say about that?» she stared at me.

«So now you attack everyone? Excuse me, miss Waters, but obviously no one taught you good manners. This is utterly rude and you should never offend people or judge them without getting to know them first. And since you asked for my opinion, my mother was a wonderful person that was also killed by your so-called boyfriend. He didn't only kill my mom. He killed my father and he killed my cousin. All the family I had left. Yet here you are, the most arrogant arrogant and self-centered person I've net in my life, trying to make your daughter who won a war feel worse about herself.» I snapped.

«You're all crazy here...» Jennifer muttered.

«Yeah. It's five to one, who is the crazy one?» Damon raised his eyebrow.

When we went back upstairs we destroyed the necklaces. Imyrth was no longer our concern. We fought for it, we lost people, we were done.

It was time for us to focus on our own happiness. I had promised it to Effie.

A/N: Okay. This is going to be a little confusing, but hear me out. Or read.

This is where the story is supposed to end. I mean, the narration ends here. They're back and they're telling their story.

There are some parts that take place after  the narration. The next chapter and the bonus chapter (the latter will be after the epilogue, so try not to miss it) are these chapters. The events happen as they are being said. The characters don't know what's going to happen.

I think I just made it even more confusing.

You'll see.

When though the bonus chapter is a little more complicated...

Anyway! Time to move on, right? ;)

-Riri<3