Everything fades. The battlefield dissolves. The screams, the fire, the clash of power, everything fades until there is nothing left but memory.

I'm back to years ago.

The air smells different. The kind of air that belongs to a life that hasn't been broken yet. I'm standing in my room, smiling, lighthearted, and foolish enough to believe that nothing in the world could ever truly hurt me.

Then they walk in. Kaden and Lola. Side by side. Hand in hand.

My heart stutters, not with fear, but confusion. I remember laughing, a nervous, brittle sound, and asking what this was about. I remember telling myself it had to be a misunderstanding. A joke. Something that would make sense if I just waited long enough.

I remember the triumphant look in Lola's face as she looked at me. I remember Kaded's cold face. The man I loved was standing there like a stranger wearing his skin.

I remember my heartbreak as he told me that he and Xena loved each other. I remember how the words sliced through me.

I see myself falling to my knees, begging. My hands clutching at his clothes, my voice breaking as I tell him we can fix this, that whatever is wrong, we can fix it. I tell him about our future. About our child. About the bond, but he doesn't waver.

Then comes the pain. When the bond snaps, it isn't clean. It isn't merciful. It tears through me slowly, violently, like my soul is being ripped out piece by piece. I scream until my throat burns raw, until my voice shatters. I feel myself bleeding onto the floor, my body convulsing as my magic spirals wildly out of control, desperate and dying.

And Lola? She smiles as if she weren't killing me.

I remember her standing over me, looking down as I choke on my own blood, as my vision dims around the edges, as the world begins to slip away.

Then the worst part. The moment I felt it. The agony is immediate and soul-deep, so sharp it arches me off the ground as understanding crashes into me all at once: my daughter is gone. The bond breaking killed her.

The scream that tears out of me now doesn't belong to the past. It belongs to the present. It's rage I still carry years later.

Reality snaps violently back into place, and I twist the scepter.

Lola whimpers. The sound is weak. Blood spills from her mouth as she gasps, eyes wide, unfocused, finally drowning in pain instead of power.

A dark satisfaction coils in my chest

Our mother rushes toward me, panic carved deep into her face. "Nyx, please stop."

She grabs my arm. Instinct answers before thought ever can.

Power rushes outward and slams into her like a tidal wave. She's thrown back

violently, her body hitting the ground with a sound that makes something in my chest twist.

"Don't touch me!" I roar.

I rip the scepter free and plunge it back into Lola's chest.

Lola screams. The sound is raw and animal, shredding what little air remains in her lungs. Blood pours freely from her mouth now, staining her chin and her chest and soaking into the fractured earth beneath her.

"You don't know," I whisper, leaning down close

hoe so she can hear me, so

she has to hear me. "You know

ve waited for the

Her lips tremble. She tries to speak, but blood floods her mouth instead.

I feel it then. Her life force flickering... She's dying.

I straighten slowly, lifting the scepter high. My hands don't shake and my resolve doesn't waver.

I'm ready. Ready to end it. Ready to finish this.

The sound of clapping distracts me. Stops me. I look up only to find Kaden standing

a few paces away, applauding lazily and smiling.

"I didn't think you had it in you, Nyx," he says calmly. "Killing your own sister."

My heart stutters, hard enough to hurt.

"Maybe," he adds, tilting his head, eyes glittering with cruel amusement, "I chose the wrong sister after all."

Something cold settles deep in my stomach.

"What...?" My voice comes out hoarse, scraped raw. "What are you talking about?”

He shrugs casually and unbothered.

"Exactly what I said." He steps closer, boots crunching over shattered stone.

"You know," he begins, conversational, like he's sharing a fond memory, "I always had my eye on Lola."

My breath catches painfully.

"From the moment she was a little

girl, I knew her power would

complement mine perfectly," he

continues. "Strong, untamed and most importantly easy to corrupt

His gaze flicks briefly to Lola's dying form.

"Unlike you, she already had darkness in her," he goes on smoothly. "A gift, really.

Courtesy of being the Queen of Darkness."