"Charlie!" Constance yelled, chasing after the boy. "Charlie, wait up!"

"Can't you catch me?" He laughed. "You're supposed to be the Commander, Connie..."

"Shuddup!" She scowled. "You're still the Vice Commander!"

The wide grin on Charlie's face soon vanished, though, as the boy tripped on a snow-covered tree root.

"Charlie?!" Constance was by his side in an instant. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine." The blonde-haired boy sat up, dusting off the fine layer of powdery white snow that'd coated his chest, blinking as he felt his ankle twinge. "Ow."

"You're not OK, are you?" She said, matter-of-factly, staring at his twisted ankle.

"I'll be fine." He grumbled. "Just take me back... I'm sure he'll be able to patch me up before he heads out on his next errand."

Constance hefted the boy up into her small arms.

"I can walk."

"This is faster."

"It's also far more dangerous..." A voice called, icy blue eyes meeting their shocked ones. "I mean... If you've got your hands full, you can't really do much, can you?"

"Put me down, Connie." Charlie scowled. "I don't like where this is heading..."

"Just tell me where the nearest town is from here." He sighed, folding his arms. "I'll end your lives quickly if you do."

The boy gritted his teeth. "Run, Connie."

Charlie fell to the ground in a heap.

"A Commander's duty is to protect their subordinates." Constance said, folding her tiny arms. "I won't let you hurt my Vice Commander."

"Well, my dear..." Blue eyes locked on her purple ones, widening slightly when they spotted the colour. "I'm afraid you're a bit outnumbered... Apocalypse Knight..."

She was surrounded in an instant, swords raised.

The Knights of the Apocalypse were rather well known, especially amongst Rogues.

So they knew how dangerous she could be.

They were, after all, from the North. From the Rogue Lands on the other side of the wall.

That didn't help them one bit though.

Constance simply drew her scythe out of thin air and began her deadly dance. Blood spattered across her face, her arms shaking as she held her weapon of choice. Purple flames crackled around the blade, her eyes glowing with the same intensity as she moved at record speed, until she finally realised they were all dead.

By her hand.

Her shoulders sunk, her blood-covered face weary as she turned back to face Charlie, her back hunched against the stream of insults she was sure was about to be thrown her way.

Everyone screamed at her after incidents like those.

They called her a monster, a freak.

"You OK, Connie?" Charlie's expression was unusually calm as he pulled her out of her thoughts.

She tilted her head, staring at him intently. "You aren't scared of me?"

"It's the opposite actually." A wide grin pulled at his lips. "I think I'm in love..."

"Don't say something like that!" Constance muttered, her cheeks bright red, her purple eyes blinking furiously as he pulled himself up on one leg, his hands landing on her face, turning her so she faced him.

His lips hesitantly pressed against hers, a faint blush appearing in the boy's cheeks as they broke apart a short while later, their faces matching shades of crimson.

***

"You always were the noble one..." Genesis sighed, staring at the one remaining knight left on the battlefield.

Charlie.

Her first kiss.

"I take it you want to take me on one on one..." She closed her eyes. "But can't you just go back home...?"

"There's no home for me, Connie." He said, his face bleak. "There hasn't been for a while." He laughed hopelessly. "Omega Taurus is just using us... They cut down most of us originals and took advantage of the confusion to bring the new bunch to their side..."

"So kill them."

"Straight to the death sentence... Same as ever, I see..." His shoulders sunk. "I can't kill them, Con, because I don't know who they are. Not to mention half of the new lot of Knights are actually enjoying themselves working for these idiots."

"So leave, Charlie. Nothing's keeping you there."

"Don't you get it? If I leave, I'll be hunted down as a traitor... and if I say that Omega Taurus is our enemy, then I'll have a mutiny on my hands."

Purple eyes locked, a sliver of apprehension creeping down her spine. "So what's you plan?!"

"To die fighting."

"What kind of an ending is that?!"

"The kind we Knights always get." He smiled sadly. "So, Commander... I have a request to make."

Genesis gritted her teeth, already knowing what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

"If I want to die by anyone's hands, then I want them to be yours." Charlie's pale purple eyes met her own. "Grant me this one request, Connie..."

Tears pricked her eyes. "I can't refuse an old friend, can I?"

"No."

"I guess I don't have a choice." She said, having spied the determination in his eyes. "I don't want you to die some pathetic death... I don't want you to be branded a traitor... I don't want to see how much you've changed since I last saw you..."

"Are you ready, Commander Constance?" Purple flames condensed into a sword, the metal taking on an odd purplish tinge.

"I'll give you a noble death, Charlie." She said, her eyes glowing. "And unlike all the times we've sparred before, I won't hold back." Genesis clapped her hands together, purple sigils glowing on her palms as she pulled them apart slowly, revealing a sheathed purple sword.

"I look forward to it." He smiled, holding his blade ready, knowing there'd only be one clash of swords in their duel.

He'd seen Genesis fight far too many opponents, and yet he knew he still couldn't beat her. It wouldn't have mattered if he'd known her for hundreds of years.

She was strong.

Ridiculously strong.

That was why she'd been made their Commander.

Their Original Commander.

The only one handpicked by him.

"Bring it!" Charlie yelled, charging forwards, a wide smile drawn on his face even as Genesis ran at him, unsheathing her own purple flaming sword only seconds before they collided in a clash of lilac sparks.

That was all there was to their fight.

The single intense collision.

Then it was over, the pair of them skidding past the other – the battle already over.

Genesis stared at the rip in her coat, tears pouring down her face, washing away the spatters of blood staining her deep olive skin. She turned back, watching with watery eyes, as blood sprayed out from the numerous cuts she'd given her opponent.

Charlie fell to his knees, grinning still even as a red puddle formed beneath him. "Thank you, Connie."

She remained silent, simply looking on as he collapsed to the ground. "Goodbye, Charlie..." She said, still completely unaware about the lone spectator in the forest.

The white-haired man turned his back on Stonewall, his purple eyes narrowed as he spoke into his phone. "This is Caspian." He said, his voice low. "Charlie's been taken out..."

***

"Constance!"

Genesis spun, just in time to be tackled to the ground by a blonde woman she could only vaguely remember. Her sword vanished in purple smoke, her head colliding painfully with the hard ground. "Oww..."

"You're alive..." Brown eyes peered down into her purple ones curiously. "What happened to your eyes? How did you end up with Libertium?!"

"Ease up on the girl, Carol." Leopold sighed, hauling his mate off her. "You can ask her questions later... once she's been acquainted with her new home."

"You still want to throw me in a cell?" She sighed, staring up at him.

"Actually..." Blythe interrupted them, holding up a piece of off-white paper next to her face. "I believe we'll be handing her over to the Alphas."

"Oh hell no!" Genesis was on her feet in seconds, and she would've been sprinting away too, had it not been for the hand that grabbed her by the collar, holding her up in the air.

Green eyes stared into her own as the Elder held her off the ground, which was an impressive feat since Genesis was unusually tall for a female werewolf. Even her mate, Alpha Finn, wasn't that much taller than her.

"Genesis...?"

The voice made her stiffen, her head turning to face the three figures who'd appeared out of thin air.

Lyra stared at her in shock. "What happened?"

"I second that." Blaine sighed, his eyes fixed on the girl covered in blood.

"Never mind that." Alpha King Rylan strode towards them, taking Genesis from the Elder who was holding her out. "We've got what we've been searching for, so we'd probably best get back to the Hawkdale Region..."

"You ought to be more careful with that one." Leopold turned to his son. "She joined up with Libertium and that Rogue Queen seems to be a bit fond of her..."

"Liberty won't be a problem." Lyra said, staring over at the treeline, smiling faintly.

"Let's get you home, Genesis."

"But-" Carol grumbled.

"She's needed somewhere else right now, love." Leopold said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "We can go and see her after she's done helping out her older brother."

"Older brother?" Rylan blinked. "Why are you on about Constance at a time like this?"

"Because you're holding her by the collar right now." His father laughed. "Take good care of her, Ry."

"I see..." His voice was close to a whisper. "So Connie finally found her way home..."

"Ry." Lyra interrupted his musing. "We need to get back."

"Right, sorry." He turned back to his mate, keeping a firm grip on Genesis as Blaine grabbed the pair of them by the shoulder, teleporting them all back to the Hawkdale Region.

Back to him.

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