Lucius stared into the wall. It had probably been a nice wall once, being a remainder of a nice theatre, but now it was ugly. The paint had been peeled off, and it looked brittle from water damage and possible infestations, but Lucius had nothing else he wanted to stare at.

"Sam should fix this wall next," he still mumbled absentmindedly.

"There's a lot I would repair first if I were him," Tom replied, being the only other person in the small, temporary bedroom that had used to be a changing room of the Hydrina theatre. "Like... Most rooms downstairs."

Lucius didn't object to that. He hadn't given any thought to what he'd said before anyway. He slowly twirled a lock of his Lucia-wig around his finger before finally tearing his gaze away to frown down at Tom's progress.

"Are you done yet?"

"Most of your wounds look fine, actually." Tom stood up from the floor after checking on Lucius' bandaged leg and turned his attention to his arm. "I think what concerns me most is the condition of this one."

"I had no choice." Lucius grimaced, adjusting his position on the bed. "I couldn't keep it still with everything going on."

Tom did not seem to find that a proper excuse.

"Chances are you'll have some permanent difficulties with it, if you're unlucky..." He turned his head away. "... Which you usually are."

Lucius narrowed his eyes, and dared to glance up at Tom.

"... Has he said anything yet?"

"Still in his room. I don't think he's been outside since all that."

"Right..." Lucius pursed his lips and looked down at the deep purple dress he was wearing. He didn't want to go outside either. Not with Damien looking for him, but if he didn't get back to his place at the town hall, people would wonder if Lucia was healthy enough to continue her job.

And then he'd be replaced.

"Do you think I was wrong?" he had to ask, and Tom made a face.

"I understand your reasons, but... Hard to justify that big of a thing. I think few would agree it was the appropriate action to take."

"Well the Reapers were alright with it," Lucius mumbled with a disgruntled frown. "And even Ivan agreed to help."

"Yes." Tom's voice was suddenly dry. "Thank you for promising him I'd fix him a near impossible healing potion to save his wife whose chance of survival is next to none, by the way."

Lucius did not appreciate the sarcasm, but he let it go.

"Did Sam say anything about when Bahman would be here?" he asked instead, and Tom shook his head, still inspecting Lucius' shoulder with a somewhat accusatory look.

"Just today, really. So it's good that you're already in disguise."

"Yeah..." Lucius looked out the small window with a tired sigh. Had it not been for the help of Eliza, he wasn't sure he would have managed to look like Lucia in his condition. He barely had the desire to get out of bed.

"Mr. Faal told me, by the way," Tom said, with a new hint of warmth in his voice. "How you told him to stall Mr. Featherstone, making sure he wouldn't make it to the party."

Lucius was not sure why he felt embarrassed by it being acknowledged, but he still huffed in response.

"Just seemed unnecessary to lose people who like Lucia, I guess."

"It's just nice to hear you caring," Tom continued, looking rather embarrassed himself by his words. "About others than— I mean... It's just been a little concerning before, but..."

He trailed off, like he usually did when he inevitably made things awkward, but Lucius had no desire to talk about his apparent lack of compassion.

"A— Anyway..." Tom surprisingly spoke again. "... I have some news regarding your..." He gestured vaguely at Lucius' chest. "... Undesirable state. I think I've found someone who can help."

This finally made Lucius perk up.

"Who?"

"His name is Aldrik." Tom quite rudely, in a Catherine-like manner, leaned closer to pull down Lucius' shirt a little and squinted at the veins . "He lives in Hrimrike, and according to some articles and documentations I found he seems to have knowledge about alchemy, and the, uh... Occult. Specifically rituals involving humans and the unholy."

Lucius slapped Tom's wrist away while trying to take in the words, hardly thrilled by the idea of placing his life in the hands of an occultist, but the one thing he chose to complain about with a groan was something else.

"Hrimrike? We have to travel that far just for this?"

"That seems like an understatement of what's going on, and also it could have been worse," Tom argued. "It's only a week or so by ship."

"And where do we get this ship?" Lucius still scowled. "Do you have the money to rent one? And hire a crew?"

"See, we've actually solved that already." Tom brightened up, and he adjusted his glasses. "Ethan had already sent for Captain Vandelay to pick him up after all that depressing business with his father, and since he's already coming here we will go with him."

"Almost too convenient," Lucius muttered with a narrowed look of caution, but he didn't have a lot of options. "But also, I can't leave South Kerilia. Lucia needs to get things in order, and just up and disappearing is the last thing I should do."

Tom likely tried to look reproachful, but it was just awkward.

"Would that not be the most logical choice? You're in danger here, and you're in even more danger if you don't do anything about that abominable web."

"I'm not handing this town back to monsters," Lucius muttered. "They're not getting it back. Not after all this. After all they've done to it, and to me."

The room fell into silence as Tom stared down at his scarred hands before beginning to wring them.

"I get it," he whispered. "You deserve to live a good life where you are, but... Sometimes life doesn't work in your favour. Sometimes... Running away is the best option."

Lucius opened his mouth to retaliate with something snarky, but was interrupted by the door opening slightly with a creak. It wasn't Samueli or Eliza, or Bahman for that matter. It was a small child who stood awkward and wide eyed in the doorway.

Neither Lucius nor Tom knew what to say. Making an educated guess, Lucius figured Tom had just as good social skills with children as with adults, which meant Lucius would either have to initiate a conversation or simply tell the child to leave.

"Hello," he settled on with a forced, reassuring smile. "Samueli's not here if you're looking for him. And, uh... Actually, if not, could you get him for me?"

"So you're not dead?" the child asked softly, and Lucius glanced down at himself, noticing Tom followed his example.

"I should hope not."

"The older children said you were going to die."

"Well what do they know about being dead?" Lucius tried to sit up again with a grimace, and Tom tried to smile at the child as well.

"He's actually been much worse off before. If there's one thing he's good at, it's surviving."

Lucius chose to take it as a compliment and not a jab at his other skills, instead raising his eyebrow at the child who stood firm in the doorway.

"Was... There something you wanted with me?"

"No..." The child tilted his head from side to side as he reconsidered his answer. "... Well... There's a bet. We can each go here to look at you once every day, and whoever finds you dead gets two snuffs."

"By Dyris." Lucius' tone was flat, and he didn't bother to link his fingers. "Unfortunately I'm not dying, but if it's two snuffs you want, I still need you to get Sam for me."

"For two snuffs?" The child brightened up, and Lucius nodded with his deepest, exaggerated earnestness.

"It's an important task."

Tom chuckled as the little thing scurried off, standing up from the bed to head out as well.

"Well, make sure to rest some more. I... Guess I will see you when I see you."

"That's how it works."

Being left alone however, Lucius was reminded of the depressing state he was in again. No matter how determined he was to succeed or how much he'd tried to rethink things, he couldn't find a good way to handle everything going on. It was overwhelming enough for him to close his eyes and try to focus on just breathing, grateful that for once his heartbeat wasn't pounding in his ears.

"I couldn't find Samueli," the child's voice eventually announced from the doorway, and Lucius had to open his eyes again.

"Is he out?"

"I don't know, but..." The child looked to the side. "... There's another man here to see you."

Lucius' heart skipped a beat, and he got up from the bed in preparation to fight. If Damien had found him, he'd have to overpower him quickly. The man had immortality on his side but he was not a fighter, which meant Lucius had a chance to get away.

Then it occurred to Lucius that Bahman was supposed to visit, thus the Lucia disguise.

"Well?" he asked, trying to sound impatient but his voice was unmistakably trembling from the initial panicking.

But oh, he should have panicked. He should have panicked much more.

"Hello, Lady Cromwell."

It wasn't possible. No matter how much Lucius stared in disbelief, the sight of Derek Kilgrave stepping through the doorway was too real, and all strength left his body.

"No." He shook his head. "Not you."

"It's funny, I hear there's a bet going on." Derek pointed down at the child, who now seemed to rethink having led the man there and slowly backed out of the room. "How fortunate for this one that the odds of winning just increased drastically."

Lucius looked around after something to defend himself with, but then again, what was the point? There was nothing he could find in there that could be used against a monster like that one.

"You know, I really want to respect you for what you did," Derek said as he walked closer, and Lucius found he'd already backed away as far as he could. "You wanted power and seized it through deception. People wronged you, and you retaliated in an effective, highly destructive way. I'm not even particularly attached to The BBT itself, so I like to think if we'd met at another time and place, we could have gotten along."

He smiled before grabbing the paralyzed Lucius by his collar to pull him closer.

"But unfortunately for you I have a sense of loyalty, and you hurt my friend, so you've surprised me with yet another accomplishment." He let Lucius' shirt go to grab his throat with one hand. "You've actually made me angry."

"H— How are y..." Lucius croaked, gasping through his attempted words. "I s— stab..."

"Stabbed me?" Derek's lopsided smile widened. "You thought that would stop me? You can't win, Cromwell. I don't know why you don't get that."

Black spots were blocking out Lucius' vision, and even if he'd been able to move despite his terror, his already fragile body was failing him. The grip he could get around Derek's arm was barely strong enough to hold on, and Derek sighed in disappointment.

"Why do you bother with struggling? What's left for you but death, anyway?"He raised his hand to increase the pressure on Lucius' throat. "You can't beat me no matter how many times you try, and you can't rule this town with Damien around. I hear even Anthony's abandoned you now, though I guess it's just as well."

Lucius could not accept it. It was true Anthony had left him in the forest and that his life would always be in danger with Damien around, but there had to be a way. He was not supposed to die there.

Yet even the strongest attempt he could muster was pointless against the iron hold on his throat.

"You couldn't win with him on your side anyway." Derek's look of pity was devastating. "And now there's no one left to hide behind. It's just you, and you stand no chance against us alone, so why don't you just do yourself a favour and die?"

"Because he's not alone."

Derek had barely turned his head to find the source of the new voice before the sound of a gunshot pierced through the room, and Lucius found himself dry heaving even before his vision had returned properly. He had already figured out that the warm, wet substance that had been spattered over his body was a gory mess of blood and brain matter, but nausea struck him for real as the smoke settled and he got a look at what was left of Derek's head.

Bile filled up his mouth, but he forced it down again and looked away as the corpse fell to the floor with a loud thud. He couldn't speak, or move for that matter. All he could do was take shallow breaths and stare wide eyed into the ugly wall while barely keeping from emptying his stomach. The shock of everything that had just happened left no room for words or actions.

This did not pertain to the new presence in the room, and as soon as Samueli had lowered his rifle and torn a murderous stare Lucius had never guessed he was capable of away from Derek's body, he dropped the weapon in order to run over to Lucius and pull him into a tight embrace.

"It's alright," he whispered with a firm hold around Lucius' trembling body while the latter still gasped for air. "He can't hurt you anymore."

Shock faded to make room for dread, and the cruel reminder of his mortality blurred Lucius' vision enough for him to avoid the sight around them. It wasn't over. He could die just as easily. He hadn't even counted on Derek's survival yet he'd still feared for his life.

His very mortal life.

"Ssa— Wh... Wha do I..." His voice still struggled. "What do... I..."

"Don't do anything." Samueli slowly let go of him. "Not now. I will think of something, but in the meantime you need to rest."

He glanced down at Lucius' gory clothes.

"But not here. Let's get you to another room and have you..." Samueli frowned, and he backed away a step to have a better look at Lucius' shirt. "... I... What is...?"

Lucius glanced down, heart coming to a stop as he too noticed the red blotches swiftly fading from his clothes.

"No," he whispered through a desperate sob. "No... Please, not him. He can't be..."

"I... To...ld you," a broken, hoarse, yet eerily singsong voice said as Lucius' ankle was grabbed with a devastating force. "You c...a...n't win."

It was a knee jerk reaction, or else Lucius would never have looked down at the still massacred remains of Derek's face, except tissue had regrown in places, and despite a clearly missing piece of his jaw, the man still managed a bone-chilling smile.

"I th... ought it was s... trange," Derek continued as he rolled to the side, words clearer but still heavily slurred. "You were so c... onfident you could ess... cape me, and then it hh... it me. You're incredibly sstupid."

Samueli was quicker to recover from the shock, and he raised his foot as if to stomp down on the still broken part of Derek's head but was stopped mid-air as his leg was grabbed as well.

"It nnever occurred to you that my po... rtrait was there for a reason too." Derek tugged both of their legs simultaneously to have them fall to the floor. "But you knew the other four had their portraits on the ssame wall for a reason, so I th... ought it went without saying."

Lucius sat petrified on the floor. He couldn't accept it. Derek could not be immortal. He was the last person allowed to be. His bloodthirst and proficiency paired with an inability to die would be the cruellest prank upon humanity that any deity could conjure.

Slaughter incarnate, Ethan had said.

Before Derek could reach Lucius however, Samueli crawled up from the floor to place himself between them, and bad memories returned to Lucius' mind.

"Sam, no," he uttered, barely so anyone could hear as images of Phil's body bleeding out in front of him tormented his head. All because he had shielded him. "No, get... Get away."

"Quiet," Samueli hissed, eyes still fixed on Derek, whose face had almost recovered completely, and the man exaggerated an 'aw'.

"And you were so close to being able to protect him." He picked up the rifle Samueli had shot him with, but instead of aiming it, he offered it back to its owner while consequently pointing it at himself. "Here, I'll be nice. Why don't you give it another go?"

Samueli only glared down at the weapon, and Derek scrunched up his nose.

"Right... You already fired it." He rolled his eyes in disappointment before reaching into his coat to pull out a gun. "Have one of mine then."

Samueli did not receive that one either. It wouldn't have mattered. A bullet couldn't stop Derek. Lucius didn't know what could anymore.

"You should still know me better though, Cromwell." Derek lowered the gun as no one would take it. "I wasn't going to just kill you on the spot. Why would I? I told you, you made me angry, and do people who make me angry deserve a swift death?"

Lucius did not reply to this.

"You're not going to do anything to him," Samueli growled, and Derek let out a bored sigh before striking the gun's handle against Samueli's neck to knock him out.

"Sto—!" Lucius' voice cracked, but Derek knelt down to place a finger against his lips.

"I don't have any business with him. Unlike you, he knows how to actually kill someone on his first try, and I think that deserves a pardon."

He proceeded to pull Lucius up on his feet with a painful grip around his arm.

"You on the other hand, are coming with me. There's someone who's been dying to see you."