"I'm going to have to kill Dad."

"What? You... You have to kill him?"  Soren repeated. He knew that Viren had never, ever been the best father. But killing him... having to deal with the blood on his hands was nothing more than dangerous, especially since he had an army of dark mages who would be willing to sacrifice anything for him. If you killed him or were even lucky enough to hurt him, a whole army would be against you.

"But..." Claudia began. "Maybe it's not- It can't be..."

Lain sighed knowingly. "You can do this."

"But how?" Claudia asked. "I-I can't, I don't-"

"A little help here, please!" Janai roared, raising her shield so high that Callum could barely reach. But he was already through with Rayla, who was bleeding mercilessly onto the asphalt ground. She was breathing, but Soren didn't know for how long.

Tiadrin and Lain instantly bolted over to Callum, attempting to pin him against the wall when Callum forcefully socked Lain in the stomach, his released breath felt against his cheek.

How satisfying. Callum growled. 

Rayla didn't want to hurt him.

But she also knew that dodging wasn't a good strategy-- and it wouldn't keep her alive forever.

Rayla tried to recall what Aazrail had said-- barely anyone was able to resist the serum unless their anchor to their heart was strong enough. She had also heard him say it a few minutes before she was injected with the serum, which Callum had taken her place for.

Callum.

Callum's eyes were like a rabid dog's, looking around and eyes darting round and round, place to place. His breathing was unbalanced shaky, but his eyes were glazed over.

And it broke Rayla's heart.

She might not have known what the serum was like for very long, but the feeling of not being able to be in control was... unbearable. All the actions, all motives she had were forced against her own will, even though she didn't do much.

She decided it was up to her to help him.

"Watch out!" Janai cried, deflecting her blade against Callum's hands which were now bloodied and bruised. Janai turned around for a hot second and asked, "Are you okay?"

Rayla nodded, trying to stop the world from spinning. 

Janai almost forgot that Rayla had basically gotten shot beforehand, and then as attacked again which made it even harder for the poor girl. The sunfire elf nodded her head before attacking once more, careful not to hurt the prince.

Meanwhile, Claudia struggled. Her hands felt numb, cold like they were falling off. Her world was shielded in a lense of grey making it difficult to see. Soren's warm embrace comforted her, but it was so hard to breathe. Everything she had, she was unable to control whatever happened and nothing was going right. 

"It's... it's going to be alright," Soren said. He had been repeating the same message for a few minutes now, but now it was more of a plea than a statement as if he were trying to convince himself as well as Claudia.

Meanwhile, Viren was standing tall, his back straight and his gaze unwavering from the serum behind him.

How were they supposed to kill him? That seemed merely impossible!

Rayla, in the meantime, struggled to catch her breath. Hit after hit, all she could do was dodge every one of Callum's attacks. 

And then it happened.

With a battle cry, Janai lunged towards Callum with her shield, trying to trap him in the corner of the dusty attic when Callum grabbed the sunforge blade and slide it across her face. 

"H-he got me," Janai cried out in pain as her knees unbuckled to the ground and she doubled over. Amaya's eyes hardened, enraged. Without hesitation, she sprinted over to see what was going on and suddenly had no forgiveness for Callum. He's going to pay for this.

Without a second thought, the general grabbed her shield and deflected against Callum who still held the blade and shoved him against the creaky platform behind him. 

Rayla could only watch.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

Callum's focus was now fixated onto Amaya, who was forcefully punching him repeatedly in the face, but careful enough not to kill him. 

They weren't even outnumbered, and yet... yet Claudia and Soren were struggling with their problem, Amaya was single-handedly fighting Callum and Ezran and Janai were badly hurt as Rayla. 

Callum's eyes were now wild as he took the blade and skidded it across the shield while Amaya was distracted, and without a second word, he elbowed Amaya at her jawline, kicking her while she was down.

Amaya's hands moved over her stomach as she rolled over. And then her eyes closed. 

And Rayla screamed.

She screamed because everything was going wrong. She screamed because Amaya was hurt, Janai was down and no one was able to help because one problem was worse than the other.

She screamed because her Callum was gone, the Callum who made her feel better, because that Callum was now buried away deep inside of her because she was stupid enough to have chosen to go into the attic.

She screamed because everyone she ever loved was gone, taken away from her.

Her screams turned into helpless sobs when Callum's gaze turned on her.

She sobbed because she felt weak and helpless. She wanted to be up and fighting with her daggers out, slashing and deflecting and battling, helping her family but she was too hurt to do so.

So she screamed again because her brain told her that was all she could do:

Because everyone she loved was dying in front of her.

But then something miraculous happened.

---------

Callum stopped-- he actually stopped. He dropped the blade, shook his head, and then looked around him. And for a second, even if it was barely anything, Rayla saw his eyes.

Then abruptly, he was back to being a monster as he lunged toward Rayla as he pinned her against the wall again, kicking her with the top of his knee into her chest. Rayla bit her lip from crying out because all she could do was... die. And there was no other way out.

Callum held the blade once more, his hands painted over in blood as he hovered it over Rayla's eyes.

I'd love to see her violet eyes when they're tainted in red. Callum shook his head. Why was everything spinning? Why am I doing this? What's going on--

It was dark again and Callum continued to push Rayla against the wall. Look at her.

Viren watched, sneering as he did so while Rayla panicked. 

Claudia was still struggling.

Her fingers-

Were jet-black. And falling off. Claudia sobbed-- she felt weak and helpless. She had no idea what to do.

"I'll stay with you, Clauds. It's us forever, understand?" Soren said, wrapping his arms around her neck and sobbing into her scalp. "Okay?"

Claudia didn't respond.

She was too scared to.

"A-Aazrail," she said instead, weakly. She couldn't believe herself-- she was asking for help from the person who practically killed her.

Aazrail rolled his eyes as if she weren't dying in front of him. "What," he said, in more of a statement than a question.

"I..." Claudia bit her tongue. This is the only way out. "I'm sorry."

Aazrail's head suddenly turned around. "E-excuse me?" 

"I said I'm sorry," Claudia had to force the words out, which felt both bitter and sweet on her tongue. "I don't know how you ended up here, working with this monster. I don't know what things the elves might have done that made you do this, I don't know if they've hurt the people you loved, but please... don't do this," Claudia stifled a sob. "Don't hurt anyone."

"I do not understand," he said flatly, though his eyes seemed curious, so Claudia continued.

"I know that we- humans think elves have done wrong- but you... you can fix this! Imagine being known for... for doing something right. So please, just... you have a choice. You're free because you chose to do things. You have freedom to choose right and wrong! You don't have to choose in a year, a month, you can choose every hour, every minute, any second! You- You are free to take whatever decision you want. And... I know you won't listen- I know you don't want to- but you can take command. Please."

Aazrail blinked.

Once.

Twice.

But suddenly shook his head. "I don't understand." He repeated and moved away to the lab.

She failed.

She had failed.

Viren laughed. "Looks like your little speech didn't work," he snarled as he approached Claudia slowly. "Such a shame that I have to kill someone so powerful."

"But not if I do first." And she drove out her knife.

A/N: Ack I'm sorry if there are a few errors :,) I made this at 2 am and I'm exhausted y'all I'm sorry XD