AKARI

I find Eirwen standing outside on a different balcony just down the hall and down a few stairs from the one everyone else is gathered at. This balcony is much smaller than the other one and doesn't have any furniture on it, but it does have a nice view of the surroundings. Upon hearing me enter, Eirwen looked over to see who was there, his grey-blue eyes holding a sense of relief upon seeing me.

"You look almost relieved to see me," I tease gently as I walk over to where he stands, leaning against the railing, hoping to break the ice.

"If I'm being honest, relief would be my first expression to anyone but Kieran," Eirwen sighs and goes back to looking out over the balcony. "I'm guessing my sister sent you to check on me."

"She did," I nod. "She cares about you a lot, I can tell."

"She does," Eirwen nods in agreement.

"You know, where I'm from, there's someone who reminds me of you," I start, smiling fondly.

"Oh?" Eirwen raises a brow and glances over at me.

"I don't know what you've been through, so I can't say it's a completely accurate comparison. But, my friend Sander had always been fierce in every sense of the word. He loves fiercely, fights fiercely, and he never forgets those who wronged him. He lost his parents when he was young and was left with his twin brother, and his twin brother spiraled into somebody nobody could recognize anymore. His cousin became a dictator because he let bitterness at losing his brother take over his heart, and Sander took over after defeating his cousin in order to free everyone from his reign," I explain.

"What does that have to do with me?" Eirwen asks.

"Sander never forgave his brother for his actions, and Sander lives everyday knowing that the last living member of his family who he actually talks to may vanish at any moment," I continue. "I watch him battle with his pain every single day. I see that same kind of pain in you, and even though I don't know you, I don't want you to let it consume you."

Eirwen chuckles dryly and turns to look out over the balcony again. He turns both of his hands over so that they're palms up as he leans against the railing.

"I think it consumed me long ago," Eirwen says, and I watch as ice crystalizes in his right hand.

Eirwen fidgets his fingers around on his right hand and gently tilts his palm as the ice stays forming before he closes his hand and the ice shatters and disperses, falling down to the ground below. Eirwen then looks at his left hand and scowls before he leans back and stands up straight.

"Thank you for attempting to console me, but I don't know what you expected," Eirwen says, turning to walk from the balcony and back into the palace.

"Your father," I start, making Eirwen pause in his tracks, "he was from Ciarran, so he had fire magic, didn't he?"

"What of it?" Eirwen says, his tone detached.

"You're not your father, Eirwen. When his magic flows through your veins, it becomes yours, not his. One day, that very same magic might be able to save someone you love," I say.

"Everyone I've ever loved was burned by that very same magic," Eirwen says bitterly. "They say that Hell is made of flames, and I would've been the first to believe it."

"Eirwen--" I start, feeling sad for him.

A loud explosion comes from the balcony above, and Eirwen and I both look towards the source of the blast with hitched breath. The two of us race back into the castle and hurry to the other balcony. Once we reach the balcony, we find Kieran facing Amaya with his sword drawn, while Amaya cowers near the balcony's railing. Kaito, Valentine, Layla, and Damian are also all facing Amaya, each of them with their own respective weapons drawn.

"What happened?" I ask, bewildered.

"Amaya, are you alright?" Eirwen asks, his gaze flickering between Kieran and his sister as ice begins to form in his right hand.

"He tried to attack me!" Amaya cries.

"That's not true!" Layla shouts. "You asked him to come to your end of the table to sign a peace treaty and you tried to throw him over the balcony. He defended himself and the two of you began to fight before he knocked you against the railing."

"I don't believe you," Eirwen narrows his eyes. "I knew Kieran couldn't be trusted. None of you can be trusted."

With a swing of his arm, Eirwen forms a path of sharp ice spikes that rushes towards the others and launches the table over the edge of the balcony. As the others scramble to get out of the way, I grab my scythe and attempt to distract Eirwen. I swing my scythe at Eirwen and he forms a pillar of ice in front of him. My blade sweeps through the column and it shatters to pieces, giving Eirwen time to evade. As Eirwen evades, he drops to the ground and touches the floor of the balcony with his right hand, turning the ground beneath me into a sheet of ice.

I swing my scythe around and slam the blade into the ice, creating multiple cracks that run through it and across the balcony. I grab onto the handle of my scythe and push off of it to propel myself up in the air, flipping over Eirwen and landing behind him. I take the opportunity to summon my weapon of Patience and I press my right hand against his back, an hourglass rune forming beneath my palm. As I'm about to trap Eirwen, I glance out of the corner of my eye to see a twisting column of water rushing towards me. My eyes widen and I attempt to jump out of the way, but I slip on the ice and end up on the ground, still directly in the waterspout's way.

Kaito slides over to me and grabs my hand, roughly pulling me out of the way narrowly in time. As I'm pulled into Kaito, the mist from the waterspout fans across my face, which makes me realize just how close I was to being swept off of the balcony with it. Due to roughly pulling me towards him, Kaito stumbles backwards on the ice and falls down with me, the two of us colliding into the railing with a loud crack. As I blink to focus my vision after falling, I find that I landed against Kaito and his back landed against the railing. Kaito winces as he shifts and tries to get the both of us back on our feet, and I gasp as I see massive spikes of ice rushing towards where we're sitting. I hurriedly try to pull Kaito to his feet as I stand, and I sigh in relief when a wall of flames instantly melts the ice heading towards us. I glance over to see Kieran smiling at us and I nod gratefully as Kaito and I finally regain our footing.

As I glance around the balcony, I notice Layla running in circles around Amaya and firing off arrow after arrow, trying her best to keep her busy and not letting her team up with Eirwen. Damian is also distracting Amaya, fighting her with his sword and shield and making up for the moments that Layla can't attack. Kieran and Valentine are now focused on Eirwen, and Kieran melted all of the ice that was covering the balcony that Eirwen created. I run across the balcony and slide across the ground, ripping my scythe out of the balcony floor in the process.

"Akari! The floor!" Kaito shouts from behind me.

As I jump back to my feet, I glance over my shoulder and my eyes widen as I notice the balcony is beginning to crack where I lifted my scythe up out. I hurriedly use my Patience abilities and a large hourglass rune forms on the ground in the center of the balcony as I try to stall the floor breaking apart. Behind me, Eirwen knocks Valentine into me as he's fighting him and Kieran, and Kaito runs up to take Valentine's place. As Valentine falls into me, I stumble and the rune flickers, allowing for the balcony to crack further. Valentine helps me steady myself and sends me an apologetic look right before his eyes flicker instantly over to Amaya, who climbed onto the balcony's railing and is facing Layla and Damian, Layla with an arrow notched and Damian with his shield raised and his sword at his side.

"Inside, now!" Valentine shouts, drawing everyone but Amaya's attention.

"What?" I furrow my eyebrows. "Valentine why--"

My sentence falters when I see Amaya raise her arms into the air and all of the free water from the ground below rushes into the air above her head, forming a gigantic wave of water that ominously swirls in front of us.

"Die," Amaya says coldly, lowering her arms and pushing them forwards swiftly.

"Amaya, wait--" Eirwen starts, his eyes wide as he holds out a hand as if reaching for his sister.

Time seems to still as Kaito races towards me and Valentine as the water rushes towards us. It sweeps up Layla and Damian first, and my fingertips brush against Kaito's just as the water reaches us and sweeps everyone over the edge of the balcony to the cliffs below.