Through the window, I glimpse Sailfish nearing Hemlock, her footing steady as she steps over the vines wrapped around the bodies on the floor. I have only ever seen Hem lose control of her powers once before, and only Diamond had managed to get her to snap out of it.

I want to shout a warning at Fish, but I have my own things to worry about. Countless officers are following me on honts, and although I now have smoke from the damage some of the police officers have done, I still have to throw them off course, pick up Amber, Gold, and Vulcan and hopefully find Diamond before she consumes herself. Then I need to fly us all to our safe house while Hemlock holds off the rest of the police force.

I wish there was another way for us to act, but there is no time to plan another scheme, not enough time for Diamond to come here and knock out Hemlock - that is, if she even has the power to do so because she has been throwing rocks towards officers for the past half an hour and is no doubt starting to become drained, her powers dissipating the more she uses them.

The person who probably has the deepest pit of power is me due to my extensive training and my parents being two powerful beings themselves. I have been using quite a lot of my powers though, carrying more than a hundred Lorem's up to level twelve while misting us with the smoke. Some of them seemed to be in quite a bad condition, so I can only hope my uncle will take care of them until Gold has talked to her mother on the subject.

"Eagle!" Gold screams, waving at me. Not a second later Vulcan and Amber jump, my cushion-like cloud keeping them floating in the air as Gold jumps after them, landing behind Vulcan.

For us to get away, Hemlock is sacrificing herself. Because of her affinity with the mind of other beings, she is able to lock into their power source and drain them. That's why she has always been our back-up plan - once she starts consuming other Lorem's powers she can't stop, only able to control the minds of those who touch her vines. She has killed countless people against her will just as she was trained to do, our teachers making use of her lack of control and using her for their own deeds. Once we managed to get out of our old school she swore she would only use her powers in the most desperate moments if it is completely necessary for the well-being of others, and although Diamond and I tried to convince her that she only needed some training - real training - she refused.

"Eagle, let's go!" Vulcan shouts while holding her sister in her lap as she stares down at the men who are starting to look up at us from the ground.

A scream pierces the air sending chills down my back, the sound reminding me of the terrors Hemlock and I went through, the memory too fresh for me to forget, my body instantaneously flinching.

"Wait!" Gold shouts, pointing towards the window they had just jumped out of.

Sailfish throws Hemlock over the stone panel without even giving us a second look, my friend flailing towards the ground beneath her. I snap out of my panic and place a cushion of air underneath her, a frown appearing on my forehead as I stare at Sailfish. She looks so different. Just the way she moves makes me realize just how much she has been hiding from us - she is not a weakling with no training, but a fully-fledged warrior willing to go through anything in order to save the innocent.

My thoughts are confirmed when I feel the air shift, the water from the canal rising and swallowing the police officers who have been banging against my force field for the past few seconds. The water doesn't go back down, instead quickly moves towards the Aqua Lorem standing inside the building, her arms stretched wide as she receives the river rising to greet her.

The image is breathtaking. She looks like a goddess ready to meet her demise but deciding to fight against everything and everyone before she is taken down. As the water splashes over and around her, her hood falls down, revealing her pink and black hair.

Shaking my head, I make the beautiful picture fade into my memory, instead looking down at the four girls who I need to get to safety, and based on the red rashes on Hemlock's leg and the ugly cuts decorating Amber's body, we will also need to visit a doctor fairly soon.

The men who had been looking up at us are now concentrating on Fish, her currents entering more and more quickly as clashes and thuds are heard from inside the museum.

She is sacrificing herself for the rest of us.

When I first found out Ember - Amber - had been taken, my mind hadn't gone straight to Sailfish. No, she had always seemed so sincere, so ready to help us and save the innocent people of Venice. She even donated some of her money to a charity, or that is what she had told Gold, ranting on about how much good the association is doing down here. No, I had initially thought it was a pure casualty, I mean why go through the trouble of infiltrating us and becoming our friend when all she had to do was tell the police where our hide-out was? It made no sense, and it still doesn't.

I am just glad she is working with us again.

"She is going to die," Hemlock whispers, the winds I am manipulating catching her words and bringing them to my ears.

I grit my teeth, the realization of what she has done dawning on me. "We can't let her do that,".

I don't send my reply to them, though.

Diamond is standing on the rooftop of a building a couple of blocks away. She is limping as she fights off two Petram Lorem in the police officer's outfit, her sleeves long gone as she fights with everything she has left in her. From up here, I can just about make out the blood staining her dark skin, wounds covering her body as she rolls over, moving out of the way from a fast-approaching rock ball.

Once she has seen me, she picks up a block of the roof, throwing it towards the two women as she jumps off the building, my wind picking her up and placing her next to Hemlock.

They all look so tired, so broken - I can't imagine what state Sailfish is in.

Pushing the air currents to go faster, we move towards the cement wall I first entered around two years ago when Diamond had found me wandering the streets of level one. Luckily it has changed a lot, the now renovated place reminding me more of home than the place I am supposed to be living in, up on level twelve.

If we hurry up I might be able to go back and save Sailfish, so instead of dropping the girls off on the floor, I keep them up in the air, aiming a blast of air towards the hidden lever only a Lorem can move. The floor opens, and so I quickly fly everyone in, lying the two most injured girls on the bed, Hemlock now on her bed while Amber stays still on my own.

"What happened?" Diamond asks, hurrying towards Hemlock and staring at her legs in horror. On closer inspection, the outer layer of her skin has been peeled off, bright pink skin showing through, small cuts with blood dripping down covering her feet. Whatever Fish had done, she had managed to break those vines without damaging my friend's extremities or knocking her out.

"She saved me. I couldn't control myself, so she froze the vines and broke them off my skin. She... I was in her mind, she is willing to sacrifice herself for us," She is staring at me, her eyes shining with something I haven't seen in her in a long time - guilt.

Amber coughs, her black eye now more swollen than before, "I told you she was good. She just hadn't realized who the good people were,".

It's true. Sailfish has always been fighting to better the city, following the instructions of those who she believed helped maintain the law like a lost puppy. In some ways I blame her, but after hearing her life story from Hemlock I think I can understand what she is going through.

I did worse.

"I need to go and get her,".

I don't wait for Diamond to give me permission as I fly out through the cement wall, moving towards the building filled with police officers and curious onlookers from higher levels. Somehow I wish Hemlock hadn't made them go away, wishing they would go through some of the pain those of the lower levels have had to survive, but then again, most are innocent children.

The site is still filled with burning flames and smoke, but through it, I can just about make out the scene below it. The buildings have been destroyed, holes and black marks covering the roads and houses - complete destruction. The air feels calm as I fly down silently, the shouts and screams from earlier no longer banging against my head as I descend. It looks like the fighting is over - but where is Sailfish?

"Agent Aithne?" A thick voice asks, her words filled with surprise. Whoever is talking seems to want to mask her emotions, because her next words don't give anything away, "I should have known it was you. That Amber girl didn't seem to know anything, keeping silent as I beat her up,".

Could it be?

Nearing the mass of officers, I stare down, my eyes instantly locking on a dark-pink-haired girl on her knees before the woman who supposedly just mentioned Amber. I have never seen Sailfish without her mask on, and although I have seen glimpses of her hair, she looks so different from what I expected.

"Glad to see your true colours,".

The words reach my ears, and I know for sure this is Sailfish, the girl who was willing to sacrifice herself for us, and if this isn't for show, willing to go down fighting, too.

"Glad to see yo-".

I don't let the woman standing over my friend continue, warm currents wrapping around the trembling body of Fish as I pick her up and mist her behind a curtain of smoke. The sudden movement must have surprised her though, because she lets out a raspy scream before quickly quietening, staring wide-eyed at the sight before her. The sound has given us away, so I push the air behind us so that we can be gone as soon as possible.

"Are you okay?" I shout, too much of my energy going into our flight for me to make my voice soft and send it to her via a current. Sailfish looks at me, her eyes widening even more as she realizes it's me. Trying to smile, I wait for her reply, deciding it's best for me to send her reply over to me, her tired body probably unable to shout at the moment.

"Yes," She grasps out.

She does not sound okay.

Looking back down at her, I frown once more, worry flickering through me as her eyes start to flutter closed.

No. No, she can't be gone.

I push myself even more, the winds hitting my skin with such speed it almost numbs the panic rising up - almost, but it is not enough for me to calm down. Although I know we are traveling at my fastest speed, the seconds it takes to reach the underground lair our group has made our home feels like an eternity, the heaviness in my chest growing every moment.

Diamond is waiting outside of the cement wall, a tight smile tugging her lips as she stares up at us, saluting me.

"Will you look at that, the Fish does fly," She smirks, her face quickly falling as she realizes neither Sailfish nor I are smiling, the limp body of the girl who has put us in the path of trouble and saved us and many others from a horrible fate floating next to me as I stare teary-eyed at my old teacher.

"She needs help, immediately,".

Holding my breath, I wait for her answer. She is our leader, and if she decides it is against the interest of Lilac Royalty to take in the girl who tried to put us behind bars, I won't be able to bring her to our hideout and have the rest of the girls help treat her. If she says no, I will take her to a hospital and hope for the best, although I am sure the police officers will be on the lookout for her - that woman seemed to know her.

Di nods, "Bring her in,".

EPILOGUE WORD COUNT: 2199

I am so proud of myself! I have finally finished a story (a long-ish one) without leaving it half done and continuing it two years later, or straight up deleting it! And I know, I still need to go back and go through all the chapters and correct loads of mistakes, but OH MY GOD I FINISHED!

Question: Did you enjoy this story? Are you excited for the next one in this series?

I am obviously super excited! These characters just seemed to click, and I can't get their backstories out of my head! The next one I am planning on writing is When Birds Swim where we will be exploring her past. The rest of the girls will also have their own story (and the basic is already thought out!) but I'm not sure if we will be exploring their past or their future. I feel like Hemlock will be the future, although it will interlock with Aithne's story too. The rest is to be decided!