"Damien!" Erin cried, her screams drowned out by the clashing of weaponry on every floor. Tara brought a hand to her mouth, in shock, and used her other hand to hold on to Erin. Rina stood still, her malicious grin changing to an empty stare before she turned her back to walk away.

"Erin! You can't!" Tara held on to Erin who had nearly attempted breaking out into a jog up the stairs. Her face turned red behind her sobs and rage. She knew Tara had a tight hold on her,  but she continued making running motions until she finally gave up and broke down on the floor beneath her.

"I'll teach you to betray your leader!" A fury yelled, thrusting her spear towards Gwen who had blocked off the distressed Erin and Tara. She parried it, sending the furious woman over the rail and to her death with a loud thud below.

"We can't stay here," Gwen whispered to Tara. She nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Erin, let's do this for Damien. Teach that witch a lesson," Tara said, patting Erin on the back, who had remained kneeling on the floor cloaking her tears behind both her hands. She paused to look up at Tara with a sadness that melted Tara's heart, but sniffed up what tears she could and rose up quickly with sword in hand.

     "Are you going to be ok?" The concern in Tara's voice was prominent, even in the midst of battle.

     "When the time comes," Erin faced Tara and Gwen with determination written all over her face, "Let me kill Rina."

     ~*~

     "You sure this door is gonna hold?" Twill asked.

     "Double bolted and sturdy wood. We should be fine," James replied.

     Twill leaned as far back as he could in the chair in James's room while James laid flat on his back on his bed, his hands resting against his stomach. The fight had started--it was apparent from the sounds of steel making its way down the hallways, accompanied with the occasional banging against the walls.

"Soon as this is over I'll take you back home with me," Twill stated. James fought to sit up and stared at his brother for a moment.

"I'm not going back, Twill."

"Whaddya mean ya ain't goin back?!" Twill sent bits of spittle out of his mouth, some drops clung to his beard tightly.

"Ever since I lost her--she's all I had," James sighed softly to himself, reminiscing about the good old days.

"This place is goin down the crapper and I'm sure your wife would understand," Twill grew red in the face trying to knock some sense into his older brother, "Plus ya always got me," he added quietly.

James walked over to Twill who sat straight up in the chair beside his writing desk and placed a hand on each shoulder. Twill looked up at him before dropping his head dejectedly,"Thank you, Twill," he said leaning in to give his little brother a hug.

"Aw, now don't go gettin all womanly with me," Twill said, "last time I checked I didn't have none of them lady parts down below."

James let up on his tight embrace to look Twill in the eyes. He crossed his arms and laughed,"you always ruined moments. Some things never change," James shook his head smiling.

"It's a good thing some things don't change, brother. I dunno what I'd do if I woke up with some lady parts," Twill shuddered.

~*~

"How's this floor looking?" Gwen yelled to a Talion fury wielding a spear soaked in different shades of red.

"Almost clear," she said. A fury ran at her quickly, and she extended her spear only to have the angry fury run herself through. She pulled it out, the sound of flesh tearing was heard loud and clear.

"You seem to have it covered," Tara added. The Talion fury smiled and nodded before running down the halls, looking for more blood to add to her collection.

"We need to move faster," Erin said gritting her teeth together.

"Erin I know you're angry and upset but we need to do this the right way," Tara replied. Erin looked to Tara with anger plastered to her face before softening her gaze at the realization.

"Next floor then," Erin said gliding up the stairs with purpose in her step.

A none on the stairwell struggled against the attacks of a fury. He held on tightly to two daggers, one in each hand, as the fury thrusted with inhuman speed repeatedly, and only just missing his torso. He fell down hard, hitting the metal stairs and rolling down a couple before Erin stepped in and slashed the fury against her arm. The woman turned with a snarl towards Erin, grunting with each swing of her blade. Her blood ran freely from her arm, falling through metal crack in the staircase beneath them.

"I can do this all day, little girl,"the woman said, still slicing her blade at Erin.

"That makes two of us, you hag!" Erin yelled. The reply was enough time to distract the other fury. Erin wrapped her foot around the back of the woman's leg quickly, and sent her falling to the ground. She stepped on the hand that the blade was in and thrusted her sword deep into the neck of the woman beneath her. She felt the metal of the stairs touch the tip of the blade and vibrate before yanking it out with satisfaction.

"Wow Erin, I thought you had a problem with hurting people, let alone killing them," Gwen said from behind.

"I have a problem with killing innocent people," Erin replied while wiping the blood from her blade on the robe of the dead fury before her, "These ones I wish I could kill twice," she said nudging her head at the dead woman who was sporting glazed over eyes and an open mouth.

"We're almost there," Tara said, "let's keep moving."

"With pleasure," Erin responded with a small half smile as she ran up the stairs with the view of Dia's floor in sight.