⋯

Menacing gloom has cascaded over the Feywild, shrouding the haunting presence of the estate before them. Withered trees dotted up the pathway, framing the massive doors, stained with dark liquid and chipped away by unforgiving winds. The gloom that hung over the skies had expanded, vanquishing the dim light of the stars and casting the castle in darkness.

Sulli was alone again.

After some debate on splitting up, particularly that every time people did, someone ended up dead. They'd decided it was the best thing to do right now. Sulli was non-magical, meaning they most likely wouldn't be able to disable any kind of magical restraints their friends were in. So they'd sent them to follow behind, so Sulli could find them first and hopefully do something, cause some kind of distraction, get Sedna to monologue, something to buy them a little time.

They assured their new friends they'd be fine, but deep down they knew it was a borderline suicide mission. It certainly wasn't the smart thing to do.

Is death really the worst thing that could happen to me?

It doesn't really feel like it, right now. It's a slippery slope back down to how they felt back in high school, but they didn't know when it started happening, they just know they're at the bottom of the slide right now. There is fear there, residing deep in the bottom of their stomach, but it's more fear for their friends than it is for them.

Would anyone really miss me?

Maybe Erisa and Emmett.

Guilt panged through them, ricocheting off of the morbid thoughts that floated aimlessly. The last time they'd called their step-siblings - it had to have been at least a month ago. Sulli couldn't stand looking at their faces before they'd left the mortal plane, they couldn't have managed a half-decent goodbye.

They won't even know when I'm gone.

The only people who really would know would be here, and Liadan, who would probably just believe she'd been left with no point of contact with them. Muted chatter by rounding guards scattered here and there, but it was absent and unconcerned. After all, who was worried about someone breaking into Sedna's dungeon?

Rattling glass rang in their ears as they kept themselves in the cover of the heavy haze, wary of the mingling voices that occasionally reverberated across the ground. Some of the windows were barred, the ones that hung lower to the ground, but a few remained broken, with dark, narrow openings. Sulli pressed their elbows into the ground, carefully peering into one. The room looked empty, but they couldn't quite see the dark corners at the edges.

God, I don't really have much of a choice, do I?

They'd come this far. There wasn't any turning back now. It would be a lie if they didn't admit to themselves that at times they had questioned what they were doing, or even debated on not following through anymore. Maybe the Kwons had been right, about telling Sulli to stay out of it, but the more they thought about it, the more they questioned that too.

Why wouldn't the Kwons want Sulli to look into it? Adelaide was their daughter. Of course, understandably, it could be that they were just a human, but they were also the only person who'd evidently been looking into it at all. Surely there were some kind of criminal investigators in the Feywild- how is it possible that Sulli, an untrained, inexperienced human found evidence of where they had gone before anyone else had?

The Kwons hadn't even communicated much with them at all, after that night, Sulli had even gone to their house - to check on Corinne and Saoirse, and was sent away by one of the staff, allegedly.

Do they just hate me because of what happened on Samhain?

Adelaide had mentioned the Kwon's importance and prestige in the Irish community of the otherworldly. Certainly, the crowd at Samhain had proven it, so maybe it was resentment for what happened that night. There was also Rowan's violent death, at the hands of Magnus - and now Blythe's kidnapping on the same day. The shifter she was talking about must have been Rowan, it would have had to have been, right?

Sulli's thoughts turned and twisted as they maneuvered their body through the opening in the window. Glass scraped at their sides, not enough to quite break the skin, but enough to send pinpricks of pain up and down their ribs.

How would Rowan have hung around the Kwon estate before the party without being noticed? If he was lurking in the forest, waiting for them to arrive, wouldn't someone have noticed as they were preparing?

Maybe not.

Spells of sight existed - Sulli had had one themselves that night, so maybe Rowan was just hidden. It mattered and it didn't - it was already too late to change anything, as much as they might want to, but still, that gnawing, nauseated feeling that they were missing something set another overlay of unease over them. It was already ominous enough here, the distant ambiance of dead chatter and howling winds hitting stone foundations. Sulli's soul itched for the truth, for clarity, and here, in this dark, miserable room, they received nothing but the sight of butchered, gouged bodies.

It had been too dark to see it from above the window, but it clicked the moment Sulli's feet touched the ground, and something squishy and unnerving coated the bottom of their soles. Some part of them is glad they haven't lost enough humanity to be unaffected by the sight, another part of them wishes they were numb enough not to be.

They're unrecognizable. Sulli can't quite tell what some of them were, but they can estimate based on where the majority of their injuries are. Skinned legs, all the way down to the rotting bits of flesh that clung to the bone. Beheaded figures, with hallowed gaping holes in their skull, ones that went all the way from their eye sockets out to the tops of their head. Skulls with slippery skin and pried-out teeth- canines specifically. The scattered animal bones, a symbol of the many shifters that had been killed mid-magic use, were harvested for magical properties. The backs of a few were flayed and messy, with scars near the shoulder blades where the flesh had been scooped out, leaving a stunning arrangement of decay and disease. 

Sulli swallowed the vomit rising in their throat. They wouldn't look for their friends here. They won't do it. They're alive. Club Lore is alive. Carefully, and as respectfully as Sulli can manage, they step through the discarded bodies, eyes watering as the stench of rot muddles the air. The squelching sound of blood and guts is soft underfoot, but it sends wave after wave of sickness deep into their chest.

This is a dumping room.

They just left them here.

It's unfathomable, for someone to do this, to be so ruthless to anything is nothing short of evil. Sedna hates them, she must, for this to occur.

This is genocide.

This is war.

How is it possible to hate someone so fully that you would slaughter them like this? Butchered and cast aside as if they're nothing more than an object after its use. How is it possible that no one cares enough to stop them? All of these people who joined her feel the same way - how long until they realize that she's only going to end up killing them too?

I've heard after killing once, it gets easier.

Arden had said that to them, and in a moment of introspective disdain, Sulli realized they were much less upset about the idea of killing her now than they were even a few days ago. There are few emotions that beat out numbness once it's settled. Fear is one of them, but with so much of that recently, it's less and less easy to grasp an idea of each passing day.

Anger is the other.

Sulli is more than angry. They're pissed.

They want to scream, or fight, or cry or something- how could someone do this to people? How can you just not care anymore? Their sword feels lighter than it did a second ago, stepping over the broken, mutilated carcasses of the slain surrounding them. They had homes, they had families, they had friends.

Sulli stops in their tracks.

Friends.

Slowly, they turn to look across the room, eyes darting from corpse to corpse. The only light illuminating the room comes from the broken, unprotected window. It was probably a smaller hole at first, then creatures and critters began sneaking in, and no one bothered to fix it because no one cared about the state of these people.

How many of them waited here for someone to save them?

Did they give up, in the end?

Were they alone?

Sulli swallowed the lingering thoughts, turning their eyes away and back towards the arched door in front of them. There were scratches all along it, a few holes here and there that allowed a line of sight into the lit-up hallways. Trapped flames illuminated the lanterns that hung over chilled rock, dancing figures of fire slamming against the prison walls they were held in.

It looked similarly empty to the room they were in, and Sulli's hand found the doorknob, pressing their weight ever so gently against it. It swung open with impressive ease and silence, sending a spiral of momentary relief down their throat. They stepped out of the room, cascaded in a significant amount of light as the door shut behind them, and a soft hum lit up around the wooden handle, encircling minuscule runes in light before it vanished all over again. Sulli tested the handle.

Locked.

Okay, so these doors probably won't open from the outside. 

Sulli regrets it the moment they think of it. It's very likely that plenty more things are going to go wrong. More than likely. It's not a great plan, it's barely thought out to be honest. Most of it hangs on the fact that Sulli can keep Sedna and her stupid pets distracted enough for Cassair, Dom, and Blythe to get to their friends, and they're able to actually get them out.

Based on the grotesque sight in the other room, Sulli's doubt in themselves has only worsened. They're probably going to die. It's a little surreal, it doesn't feel like it's quite hit them yet that death is a very real, very likely possibility. It will eventually though, probably when they're bleeding out in the middle of Sedna ripping their head off or something just as morbid.

It feels so empty here in these halls, hollow and empty. Even the soft ambient chatter has pretty much vanished, and any echoing or lingering footsteps have vanished. They couldn't hear the screams they'd heard outside anymore, whoever it had been wasn't alive any longer. The space looms before them, branching off here and there, only to lead to more of those doors, oddly similar to the one Sulli had come into. 

Hide. I need to hide.

Their fingers brushed along the cracked stone, feeling for any imperfections. The Feywild might be different for a lot of reasons, but based on the things Sulli has learned about Fae, is that they love their trickery. Secret doors, portals, passageways- anything. It'd make sense for a place like this to have them, probably old and decrepit, but certainly handy for getting around or making a dramatic entrance when you wanted to. Sedna seems like the type.

Their fingers catch on a crack in the stone, pulling them to a pause. Eyes scan up and down the jagged, unsymmetrical mark that pans the length of the wall, spider webbing between the cobblestone from floor to ceiling. It's wide enough that Sulli can press their fingers into it, but tugging doesn't get them anywhere. They backtrack from the crevice, feeling the side of the wall for a shifted stone. Fingers trace the bumped surface until it dips further than it should, and a wave of jittering relief swells over them as they press it forward. Much like in a movie, the soft grinding sensation vibrated over the floor, opening enough for Sulli to slip through. It didn't stay open for long, and it wasn't a very wide space, but they managed to pull their arm through just as it began to close on them again.

The sight was impressive. It was a narrow hallway, curving around the floor of the building, but stairs dotted in branched-off walls to get to the other floors. Wood laid underneath and above, but the sides were what Sulli was truly amazed by.

They could see right through them.

It was as if the wall wasn't really there in the first place. The sight was murky, as if covered in a softer tone of the same haze outside, but Sulli could see into the hallway where they'd only been a moment ago. Evidently, they'd been fortunate enough that no one had been walking by while they were, a blessing they'd thank the gods of the Feywild for later.

That soft chatter had resumed, however, and a different problem quickly resurfaced. Their eyes quickly scanned the inside of the wall, noticing the much more uneven, almost unnatural placement of the rocks. Sulli wrung out their hands, hearing the distant sound of footsteps approaching, and took a breath. Carefully, they reached for the rocks, finding handholds before moving their feet. They'd rock-climbed quite a bit at home, it's a good workout and usually requires some kind of adaptation and active brain activity, it was always a great method for strength and dexterity training when they were out of fencing. Kept them on their toes. Since getting to Ireland however, they'd mainly avoided it, especially after being shot. Humming pain pulsed at their leg, but Sulli managed the short scramble up, worming their way into the wooden beams of the ceiling. They'd have to crawl like this, but there was enough space in the planks where they could see what was happening below. Those footsteps had drawn impossible close, and Sulli drew in a breath, momentarily holding it as the two guards stalled just below them.

"Are you staying late tonight?"

"Yeah, Sedna seems paranoid recently, she nearly threatened to drown Alvois the other day."

"She wouldn't do that."

"I beg to differ." The other one chuckled, shaking his head, "I think she wants us to finish off with the ones we have here, it's been a lot more rushed to get rid of them recently, don't you think?"

They shrugged, "Well what about that group? The seven college kids?"

"Don't call them that, dude, it humanizes them" He put a hand on their shoulder, patting it. "They're just a bunch of monsters."

"Yeah, well, whatever." He swatted his hand away, "I think it's cause that guy didn't come back- her assassin, whatever the fuck his name is. He never even wrote to her. Didn't send a word, nothing."

"Huh." The guard rubbed out his shoulder, "When was the last time she heard from him?"

"When he sent that human's blood, the group's stupid friend or something."

"I didn't know she killed a human."

"I think they were just in the way." They shrugged again, resuming the walk down the hallway with the other. "I don't think she wanted to."

"Mm." He seemed unsure of that, shaking his head. "...Didn't she just say she was going after monsters?"

"Yeah, but, you know how it is. Sometimes people are just collateral damage."

"..right."

Their voices dwindled as they continued their rounds, and Sulli swallowed the thickness in their throat. Senda thought they were dead, which was certainly an advantage for more than one reason, but their friends also thought they were dead.

Sulli's face twisted, breaking into a smile.

Alive.

They're alive.

Tortured beyond measure, most certainly, but they were alive, which means Sulli had a chance. Rejuvenated with this new information, Sulli shifted, crawling after the two guards. Assumedly, they were heading to do their rounds, and if they knew about Club Lore, they probably would drop in on them too just to check. It was hard to keep up with a crawling pace, and more than once Sulli had to stop when one of the guards looked like they heard something, but willpower and determination easily outweighed the bursting ache that had begun to build up in them. Their body ached unnaturally, even considering the circumstances like the pain was getting worse on the inside instead of coming from the outside at all. They tried not to think about it.

At long last, the guard had again stopped, this time close to a wall, peering inside. Sulli stayed back far enough, just so they weren't able to see, but close enough to hear them talk again.

"I've never removed a Məçkəy's teeth before, have you?"

"Nope- I don't know if I've ever even seen one." They said it so nonchalantly. Disgust threaded through them, and Sulli's heart sank as they continued.

"I don't think Sedna's had many, if any."

"You think that's why she's kept 'em?"

"That and that mermaid has some sort of royal lineage."

How would they know that?

"No kidding." The guard shook his head, "She's not gonna keep them for much longer, I'll bet. They're a liability if we move. I don't get why she's so obsessed with these, all possessive."

The other guard shrugged, moving to start walking once again, "Well Tenaloch is her home turf, where all the shit went down after she was turned. That's where the prince is from, maybe it's personal."

"..yeah. Maybe."

They again dwindled down the hallway, and Sulli grasped onto their words, gripping the side of the planks tight enough to keep their hands from trembling. They couldn't quite see what it looked like from up here, into the room, but they couldn't get down either without risking a guard seeing them. The wood ceiling extended further, more above the room before it seemed to break off at the edge of the wall, sending large, heavied beams across the high ceiling. 

Tentatively, Sulli crawled towards the larger beams of the wall, peaking over the edge to stare into the illuminated room. Cassie was closest, but there wasn't much Sulli could have done to prepare themselves for what they were looking at.

Suspended in a golden cage, her wings iron-banded, clamped to prevent any kind of comfort. The scent of burning feathers and flesh rose with each passing second, sitting on the floor of the cage in the center of the room, holding her knees to her chest and occasionally shifting her wings, trying to stretch and pry them from the branding metal.

Below that, was Julian, chained to the earth directly below her. It seemed unnecessarily, and unnervingly cruel for it to be him to be the only one who couldn't see her. Sulli couldn't see the wounds on him, but they knew with a surety they were there. Magnus and Kelsey are on either side, both encased in some kind of runic, arcanic barrier. In some kind of desperate need for hope, Sulli registers Magnus' horns are still there, perfectly intact. It does little to settle the unease. Yaşru is next to Kelsey, and on the other side of Magnus is Madden, whose legs look almost similar to the ones he'd seen in the other room. Skinned and scaled. Sulli's breath caught in his throat, emotion strangling the breath out of them as they realized they didn't see Adelaide.

Quickly, their eyes scan the room, until they lock on a cage closer to the back, separated from the others. It must be her. It has to be. Hurriedly, they look over the ceiling of the room, desperate for a way down. They carefully crawl to the corner of the wall, reaching into their pocket for the parea the coven had given them. Its true purpose is to be used in an emergency, to send the location of yourself when you're in danger. Warriors of the vampire races often use it, according to Tehi. While they're assumed to be mostly solitary, most aren't, and vampire covens are typically incredibly close, although patrols are often in such isolated areas of the territory, the stereotype was quickly fed. It resembles a black pearl, metallic and glittering, but easy to crush. Sulli pressed it to the wooden plank, pressing on it with their thumb until the pearl crumbled into abyssal fairy dust, shimmering into the cracks of the wood and onto the stone. 

The room was empty other than the members of Club Lore- at least that's what it looked like. They probably couldn't help with any of the magical barriers, but Adelaide's cage looked a little more promising, they could at least talk to her if at all possible. Get some sense of what to do. A distraction.

Maybe if I pretended to try and open the cage, someone would come.

And then Sulli could distract them long enough for the others to hopefully work some magic.

No pun intended.

Sulli shook their head, scanning the walls as best as they could. The cage was hung by a spiral of metal, stretching across the ceiling, dipping further down the walls because of the structure needed itself. That throbbing agony was stuck on the inside of their leg, crawling up their body slowly but steadily. They grimaced, reaching to find some kind of grip on the metal, before as quietly as they could manage, climbing on top of it. As they shifted, they duly noted that Club Lore, for the most part, appeared to be sleeping. They don't doubt it's a light sleep, but it hopefully will give them enough of a moment to go uninterrupted in their journey down to the floor. It was smooth up until the last point, where the metal pole ended about ten feet off the ground. Reasonably, Sulli was close enough that it wouldn't matter much if someone woke up or not.

A strange sense of reality swept under their feet, almost grasping them in paralyzing talons, but not enough for Sulli to run. They dropped from the pole, hitting the ground in a barrel roll before bouncing back to their feet. Their sword had clattered against the ground, loud enough that Sulli registered the movement within the circles behind them in their peripheral vision.

"Sulli?" The voice was disoriented and baffled, not quite clear enough for them to register who it was.

They didn't miss a beat in getting back up, running towards the bars of Adelaide's cage, gripping the rusted metal in their hands, "Adelaide!"

Their heart crashed into their chest upon realizing it was empty, there was no one there at all, and Julian's voice, rising and now panicked, called out to them. "Sulli, wait!"

Too little, too late.

They felt themselves grabbed from behind, thrown away from the empty cell, and into the wall. That throbbing pain in their leg burst into baubles of floating agony, sword hitting the back of the wall, even in its sheath, it was loud enough to startle the rest of Club Lore from a floating stupor.

In shock, Sulli looked up, only to see Adelaide standing before them. Before Sulli could register the fact that she didn't look at all like she'd been tortured here, or the fact that she was the one who'd thrown them, her hands were gripping their shirt again, holding them into the wall. Fear drowned Sulli's excitement before it took hold. They know what anger looks like. "Adelaide? It- what- Addi, what are you doing?"

"You stupid, stupid human." Her words were venomous, and again she shoved them back into the wall, their hands slamming into the stone and sending bursts of black stars through their vision. "What are you doing?"

"Adelaide, stop that!" Sulli couldn't process who it was exactly, but they sounded just as scared as Sulli felt.

"Addi, it's- It's just me, It's Sulli-"

"I know who you are." She shifted her hands again, gripping his shirt and dragging him closer to the doors, before. Sulli pulled back, desperate to get away, only to be met with a solid kick to the back of their knees, sending them crumbling. They turned around, scrambling backward as Adelaide began to advance on them. Their back hit the wall after a second, shaking their head.

"I don't- Adelaide, I'm here to help you-"

"Help me?" She scoffed, "Kwon's help themselves Sulli. Don't you get that? Are you so naive that you still don't get it? I tried to keep you away, didn't I?"

"I didn't mean to- Addy, I didn't, I swear- I thought-"

"You thought. Not hard enough apparently. None of you did, don't you even know who I am?"

"You're my friend." Sulli feels like they can't choke the words out for a second, and Adelaide watches their features shift for a moment before her face twists into a wicked smile, and she laughs.

"Stupid really is a human trait, isn't it?"

The words make them sick, but their mind scrambles for a sense of connection; some kind of clarity.

There.

The Kwons are important to the magical society, but where did their success, their money, their popularity, come from? Oh God. Adelaide was the first person Sulli really talked to, she was their first friend, the person who had such a smart mouth, that it was almost uncharacteristic for something like Club Lore to slip out. Fuck me. Adelaide was smart and observant, there was no way she didn't know Madden liked her- maybe she'd made it easy for him to be attracted to her. No, please. No. How could Rowan have kidnapped Blythe without being noticed, Blythe really had never specified a gender, had she? Stop. Why didn't the Kwons want Sulli poking their nose into the disappearance of Club Lore? They knew. Why didn't Adelaide look at all like the rest of the members, her cage was empty. How could you? How Rowan had gotten so close to the Kwon estate without anyone noticing. No.

Sulli's eyes were wide, staring up at the figure above him. "It wasn't my fault." It's not a question. Anyone could have heard it, their voice felt like it was echoing across the room. "It was you."

"Very, very clever Sulli." Adelaide looked down at them, glowering. "Took you long enough to figure it out, didn't it? Don't be embarrassed, none of the others knew either."

Love is blind.

True. The saying mostly applied to romantic love, at least originally, but can't any type of love make you blind? Blind to things you otherwise would have seen? Sometimes, people are so desperate for love, so ready for it, they don't mind that it's not real. If it's real enough to believe, it's real enough to follow.

"Why?"

"Why?" She sneered, crossing her arms over her chest. "I love my family. I love my people. Sedna promised me something great, she wants to make us better by getting rid of the ones that are....less than perfect."

"That's not love!"

"Oh right, Sulli, because you're such an expert on love, aren't you? Everyone loves you so much, don't they? Your parents, your siblings, your alleged friends." Sarcasm bit at the edge of her voice, venom weaving through each enunciated syllable. "You're so..." she waved her hand again, "Pathetic, really."

The words stung, sinking into the center of their heart. Sulli didn't have a response, but someone else did.

"That's not true, Adelaide."

It was Julian. He was the only one not encaptured with a runic barrier, instead iron changed to the ground, with a set of branded runes within the metal. He shifted his wrists, eyes going from Adelaide to Sulli instead. "Sulli, you can't-"

"Oh, what a touching performance." The doors swung open, silencing both Julian and Adelaide in an instant. Her voice is haunting, ominously upbeat, and sinister at the same time. Long, dark hair remains in a braid down her back. Eyes, dark as the sea shift and locked with Sulli's, a suppressed chill running down their spine, sinking into the space between their bones. Her mouth twists into some mix of a snarl and a smile, shark-like teeth uncannily clean. "Sulli, sulli, sulli...I thought we took care of you, didn't we?" She looked at Adelaide expectantly, and she grimaced.

"Well, I thought we had. We got the blood back."

"You said the Devil of Dublin could do it if I recall."

What.

"I thought he could." Adelaide snapped back, and Sedna raised her hand.

"No matter, finish them now then."

"No!" That one was definitely Magnus, and Sulli tried to peer around Adelaide, watching Magnus press palms against the field, before retracting them just as quickly, steam humming off of the contact. Beside him, Madden looked distantly awake, mumbling and searching for their own way to press against the barrier. Sulli dared to take just one look at Yaşru, only to see him seething, now with some kind of contraption over his mouth- like a muzzle of some kind. Kelsey, beside him, shook his head.

"Adelaide, stop this! You don't have to do it!"

Sulli turned back to look at her, watching her eyes shift between them and Sedna. "Kill them?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Her foot tapped impatiently on the ground, flipping out a dagger in her hand, and handing it to Adelaide instead. Sulli watched them silently argue, their own hand reaching for the hilt of their sword, wrapping their fingers around it. They didn't have enough time to reel from all this information- maybe they could talk Adelaide out of it somehow, reason with her-

The dagger came flying down towards them, and Sulli barely managed to scramble away in time for it to scrape against stone, ignoring the panicked calls from Casseipoeia, suspended high above. All of Club Lore now seemed to be trying to get her attention, desperate to take it off of Sulli as they braced themselves to their feet, ignoring the building pain in their legs, and holding up their sword. "Addy, I don't want to fight you."

I'm not going to win.

"Too bad." She swung forward with the dagger, and Sulli took a step back, fear clutching their chest.

"I'm not going to fight you!"

"Good! So just fucking die then! I thought that's what you wanted!"

Is it?

Sulli took another step back as she advanced towards him, reckless and unpracticed. Beyond her, Sedna grumbled something under her breath, and Sulli distantly watched whips of water shoot towards them, grabbing their ankles and yanking them down. Sulli scrambled for some kind of balance, but was unable to focus on Adelaide and Sedna at the same time- Adelaide shoved forward, shoving Sulli hard enough before her hand wrapped around their wrist, ripping the hilt of the sword from their hands and thrusting it forward. Before it hit them, she winced, dropping the sword on the ground, and Sulli thanked the holy heavens that their blade was iron. Clearly, she hadn't expected it, and Sulli put their foot on the blade of the sword, but Adelaide kicked it away instead, and her dagger found placement right at the base of their neck, the tip of it edging its way into the skin.

Dear God.

Sulli waited for it. Their friend's voices faded in and out of their ears, and Sulli swallowed the thick lump that had grown in their throat as they raised their eyes to Adelaide's. She hadn't shifted.

"Well?" Sedna sounded impatient, and the clicking of her shoes got louder, rapidly approaching them. Adelaide swallowed, bracing her hand against the dagger.

"Is- can't someone else kill them?"

"Are you truly so much of a coward you can send someone to kill them and not do it yourself?" Sedna scowled at her, and that mental, non-verbal argument that they'd had many times before ensured.

"I don't like blood on my hands."

"It's on your hands whether you do it or not."

Sulli glanced backwards at the sword, beyond the feet of where Adelaide was. There was no way they could get to it. They wouldn't be able to. Sedna and Adelaide seemed to be busy enough keeping each other busy, at least until Adelaide's gaze flicked back to them. "You should have died, Sulli."

It hurts to hear, and again, they brace for the feeling of inescapable death. Their body is already aching from being thrown around, and that soft burning sensation they had before blazes up and down their shoulder, tracing each of the tattoos that scatter over their flesh. They slam their eyes shut, body tense.

Nothing comes.

Instead, the weight of Adelaide is flung off of them, and their eyes snap open, only to see Blythe sitting above her, holding her own dagger in hand, and driving it through Adelaide's screaming, flailing body. Blood smears across the ground, and Sulli doesn't have enough time to get to their sword before Sedna grabs Blythe herself. The slippery sensation falls underfoot, but they bolt towards their sword, casting a fleeting glance at Adelaide's very limp, very dead body. A sob buries in their chest, mind spinning as they scramble for some kind of path.

The iron in their hands is painted red, but without a thought they rush towards Julian's chains, and slam the blade down into them.

It does nothing.

Oh God, oh please, no, please.

Sulli can feel the tears threatening their face, the choked emotion they've been burying inside their throat for so long squirming out as they bring the sword down again and again, only to be met with nothing but shattered aspirations.

"Please." The screeching has stopped now, and Sulli can only assume that Blythe is dead now too. Julian is talking to them, but they can't hear it, everything feels blurry and distorted. The sword slips in their hands as they slam it against the chain "No-" Sulli's voice breaks. They'd come all this way, they'd done everything right, this wasn't supposed to happen. "No, please, please break!"

It wasn't fair. This wasn't fair.

Before Sulli can throw down their sword again, the cold, merciless embrace of chilled water wraps around them, and they're thrown across the room by it in a wave, slamming into the wall with a sickening crack.

They felt it. Something broke- something is broken. Before they can push themselves up to stand, they're blasted with another heavy wave of water, slamming into their face hard enough that it crunches. It was hard to breathe, and blood sputtered out of it. Hurriedly, Sulli pressed their hand to their face, desperate to staunch the bleeding. It didn't have much use, Sedna grabbed them by the throat before they could do much, pinning them to the wall, high enough that their feet didn't touch the ground. "You fucking nuisance, you don't know when to quit- do you?"

"No." The word is choked out between a strangled sob, clawing at the hand that held them there. "Not really."

"Why would you even come for them?" She held their throat tighter, and Sulli lost their breath completely. "Can't you see how selfish they are? How they take things from us? You're nothing but a pet to them, Sulli." She drops them, and Sulli has to gasp for air, choking on both emotion and oxygen in the same lungful. Sedna shook her head disapprovingly, her face contorted. "I'll show you if you won't listen." Without another word to them, she turned on a heel, lifting her finger and pointing to Julian. "You. Save one person in this room. Go ahead. Anyone."

Julian stared at her for a second, before his gaze shifted to Sulli, and then to the ground. "Cassiopeia."

Sedna looked unsurprised, looking up to the cage. "And you?"

It was quiet for a moment, before Cassie spoke, "Kelsey."

Then she looked to Kelsey, who wouldn't even look up. "Madden."

Sedna's gaze shifted to the broken mermaid, who nodded weakly. "Magnus."

Magnus didn't skip a beat, his voice soft and rasped. " Yaşru."

Oh.

Sedna waved her hand, and Yaşru's muzzle disappeared. He took a breath, rage flaring through his face. "You fucking bitch."

"Ah. careful. Pick."

Sulli couldn't look up, their eyes glued to the ground, chest tight with pain. Yaşru answered. "Julian."

Oh.

Sedna grinned, that wicked shark-tooth smile, and turned back to Sulli. "You see, Sulli? They don't care that you came all this way for them. How disappointing for you." She turned back around.

Wait.

Get up, Sulli.

"Wait." Sulli's voice echoed it, and they planted their palm on the ground, slowly, steadily getting back to their feet. "You- I- I'm not done." Blood drips down their face, onto their ripped clothing. Their sword isn't far, but it's too far to make a run for it.

"Oh?" Sedna paused once more, facing Sulli again in an instant.

"I'm not dead yet."

"Are you asking me to kill you?"

"I'm telling you, over my cold, dead body." Sulli swallowed that metallic taste in their mouth. More time. They had to buy a little more time. Just enough. Please, let it be enough.

"Well. I do suppose there is a little fun in that."

Sulli wants to cry again. Everything hurts- but that contract is burning into their shoulders, angry and vibrant. Dead- she has to be dead. Sulli still has Adelaide's dagger, carefully tucked away.

It didn't matter. Sedna was faster than they were anyway.

In a blink of a moment, Sulli was again bombarded by wave after wave of water, thrown into the wall. They shut their eyes, desperate for air whenever they could manage to grab it. At last, after what felt like an eternity, it relented, and Sulli again opened them, only to find Sedna there, with a knife playfully pointed at them. "Oh, pity, I guess I win, don't I? Any last words."

Fear has a chokehold here. Sulli knows they're going to die. "...Magnus?" The tiefling's head shoots up behind them, golden eyes wide and imbued with renewed life. He doesn't respond, but they know he's listening. "You asked me what my worst fear was. On my list." They swallow, ignoring the pressing blade in their skin. "It's dying alone. That's why I came." The silence has grown hopeless, clawing at the last threads of hope like no tomorrow. "I would rather die at the feet of my friends, than be too much a coward to not chase after them at all."

There was no argument for Sulli when she shoved the knife into their stomach. And sick, brutal, laughter reverberated across her mouth.

That is, until Sulli found purchase with his own blade, Adelaide's blade, and drove it deep into her chest, and into her heart.

She fell first, eyes widening with shock and disbelief, scrambling back to yank the blade out of her chest, only for blood to erupt from the wound. She screeched with the fury of the sea, eyes darting around, desperate to find a way out of this, only to make it as far as the door, before she collapsed, body twitching obsessively.

The pain had started to set in, and heavy thoughts flooded from the back of Sulli's brain to their eyes as they dropped their hand back onto the wall, slowly sliding down it. It was a surprise after a second of dull dissociation, to realize they hadn't hit the floor.

No, instead they were in the very pleasant, very cold arms of someone else.

"Oh God, Sulli."

Yaşru

"Cassie- Where's Cass-" The voices are distant and garbled, like they're underwater now. Sulli wishes the pain of the contract had gone away. It hadn't yet- it wasn't fading at all, and Sulli no longer had the strength left to fight it.

"Here- I'm, Sulli hold on okay?" Cassie was crying, but her hand found theirs, "Please, hold on, I'll fix it."

At least the plan worked.

"How could you not have picked them?" That was Cassair, but Magnus fired back just as fast.

"It was a ploy, who even are you?!"

"I'm Sulli's friend, you know, one who'd actually want to save them!"

"I'll fucking burn you alive- were you taking advantage of them while we were gone?"

"How dare you-"

"Both of you shut up!" Julian snapped towards both of them, looking over at Cassie. Sulli's thoughts dwindled, and they squinted a little at the sight above them, reaching their hand up.

"Kelsey- where's um-"

Kelsey was there immediately, holding Sulli's hand, tears flooding down his own cheeks, "I'm here- I'm right here, Sulli, what is it?"

"Corinne and Saorise - they're-"

"I know Sulli." Kelsey sobbed, "You couldn't have saved them, I know they're gone-"

"They aren't-" Sulli shook his head, and horrible, agonizing pain shot down his spine, and their body twitched unnaturally in Yaşru's arms. "They're with the Kwons, you have to- the-" Their brain is spinning, it's getting harder to speak, and the pain hasn't gone away. Cassie looks frantic.

"Julian- guys- it's not working- I can't- it won't work."

"What do you mean it won't work??" That's Madden, alarmed as he sits next to her.

"I can't heal them." Her voice is shaking, and Sulli can feel the trembling fingers on the wound. "It won't work."

"Oh god- Sulli's arm." Kelsey has lingering tears woven into his words. "The contract. Oh- no, Sulli- the contract, what was it?? Please- what- what was it?"

"I-Arden, I had to kill-"

Who was it again?

What was her name?

"Sulli- who- please, we can help you."

"Cassiopeia-"

"Get away from me, Julian."

Everything hurts.

I'm not ready to die.

"Sulli- you have to keep breathing. Please- this isn't, you have to hold on."

I'm sorry.

"Who's Arden??"

Another voice added to the chaos, and fear wove its way into Sulli's disoriented, broken mind. "I am."

"What did-"

Wording is everything to a Fae.

"But- I killed her." Sulli managed to get it out, their chest rattling with devastating crackling each time they took a breath."

"You killed Sedna. She's not the one who had my name."

There's dead silence in the room, and Sulli would have tried to grasp a conclusion if they were able, but everything hurt too much- words were hard, they were so tired. They'd been tired for a long time.

"..Adelaide," Julian says the name before anyone else has the strength to, and Arden nods.

There's nothing they can do. There's nothing anyone can do at all. "So we just have to watch Sulli die this way?" Dominicus.

"...No."

Sulli didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't the cold blade of a sword driving straight through their chest.

───────────────

WYN

twenty-third chapter!

.....sorry you guys. that was 7000 words of pure torture.

but the book isn't finished yet...? (if that's any consolation)

i love youuuuu (please forgive me)