Humans are made so cheaply.--Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist

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"How pitiful."

I froze, catching my breath. The blade of a knife pushed against my throat.

"Vadik."

A hand slapped my shoulder, and with the hit came loud laughter.

"Better believe it."

Rage boiled up inside me. I stared at the still form of Brennen, seeing the stab wounds Vadik made, seeing the blood that Vadik drew.

Every part of me that had
screamed there was something wrong silenced. The world blew past is ringing--pure, unhalting ringing.

It's his fault.

I clenched my fist, preparing to burn him to a crisp. The blade pressed further into my throat, drawing a drop of blood.

"Nuh-uh-uh, Zara," Vadik sang. He bent his head down close to mine and whispered, his warm breath tickling my ear.

"Is he alive?"

All of me ached to get away from Vadik, to burn him to a crisp, to have him back away so I'd never see him again.

"Brennen's dead," I answered. The last word sent a pang through my chest.

Vadik grabbed the back of my neck and squeezed. "Check."

Check.

He shoved my head down, knife still at my throat.

"Let go. I can't 'check' if I have a knife at my throat."

Slowly, Vadik removed his dagger from my throat. I gulped in air, finally free to breathe.

He pushed my back, forcing me to get next to Brennen. "Check."

I shook his hand away. Brennen's broken form loomed in front of me, still and silent.

I tilted my head to the side and ran my hand across his forehead, pushing a stray piece of hair away from his closed eyes. His skin was still warm.

Tears threatened to spill over again. I pushed them back.  Vadik would not see me cry more than he already had.

I pressed my right hand to my still friend's chest, right where his heart was. There was no movement.

The dagger poked at the back of my neck, stinging me. "Closer."

He wants to make this hurt more than it already does.

That was impossible.

I did what Vadik order and put my head against Brennen's chest, like I was hugging him. Comfort washed over me at the simple action, even though it was hopeless. I knew he was dea--

Tmp.                     Tmp.                  Tmp.  

My heart jumped a beat. My eyes widened, and I quickly masked my expression. Never had one noise sounded so beautiful. It was nearly inaudible, impossible it feel.

But it was there. As clear as day.

A heartbeat.

I clenched my fist. He's still alive.

A million thoughts raced through my mind at once.

Vadik  doesn't know.

I need to keep it that way.

Brennen's still dying.

I've got to do something.

What?

The blade poked further into my neck. "Well?" Vadik demanded.

Slowly, I rose up. I scanned Brennen for any type of movement that could give my answer away.

None.

"He's dead," I whispered.

Vadik laughed and removed the blade. I stood up and turned toward him. His arms were in the air in celebration, a sick smile spreading wide across his face.

"What do you know!" he cried. "Monsters really are killable."

Do I need him alive?

Vadik wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pressed his face up to mine. His lips traced my cheek. "That just leaves you now, Zara."

In one swift movement, the knife was back at my throat.

"Need me for what?" I gasped.

Stall him. I need a plan.

"Are you that stupid?" he growled. "I need you to die. It makes an incredibly convincing story, that you rushed in to save your Beast and attacked me. In all your craziness, I was forced to kill you."

He pressed the knife deeper into my neck. All it would take to kill me would be one flick of his wrist. One movement so simple, and my life would be over in a spray of blood.

Spray of blood...

He can use magic.

The scratches and shards of glass that were in Vadik's arms were gone when I faced him. He must have transferred them to an animal.

He can heal himself. Could I transfer Brennen's wound over?

It was worth a shot. There would only be one outcome, though.

Someone would die.

Whether I was me, Vadik or Brennen, one of us would die.

I have to get him to start the spell, and he won't do that willingly.

"Any last words, Zara?"

I choked at the pressure of the knife. Disarm him.

His body was pressed up against mine, so I could feel exactly where he was.

Foot first.

I lifted my leg and stomped on his toes with all my might, imagining that I was pounding through the earth with my foot.

Vadik proceeded to drop his arms around me, letting me free. I stepped forward and cast my gaze down. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled towards me quickly, bring me knee up to hit him right where it hurts.

A high-pitched screech escaped Vadik's mouth.

I ignored it and cast my eyes down to his hands. He held the knife in his right hand, so with my left, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, feeling the satisfying snap of bones leaving the joint. Or breaking. One or the other.

With the knife firmly held in my left hand, I grabbed Vadik's head and shoved it down, pushing him toward the stones.

He fell, face first on the gravel.

It all happened in about a second.

The next step was to drive the knife through his heart. But I couldn't. I had to injure him enough that he'd start to try to heal himself, but not enough that he would die from his injuries.

Immediately, that is.

So, instead of his heart, I drove the dagger toward his right shoulder. It met little resistance going in, only slowing when it met bone.

He didn't even cry out.

Before I yanked the knife out of his shoulder, I  twisted it.

Monsters lived in all.

I need him to think he's going to die.

One stab wouldn't do it, then.

So I aimed again, this time at his left shoulder. I punctured his skin slowly, taking my time in the stab.

He cried out beneath me, squirming to get my body off his. In his struggle, he moved the knife to the side, making it cut deeper and closer to his heart than I wanted it to.

I grabbed his neck like he did to me and shoved his face back into the ground. "Pagoma."

Vadik stopped moving.

I grabbed the hilt of the knife and twisted it. I could literally feel everything it hit while it was in his shoulder.

Bile rose up in my throat. Don't barf. Please don't barf.

I swallowed it down and yanked the dagger out, circling over to the front of Vadik. His face was contorted in agony, his one eye glaring at me in hatred.

My heart pounded at the next step that I thought of. Vadik could release himself from the spell I had him trapped in, it would just take a few seconds.

So in the meantime, he had to burn.

I snapped my fingers. I little ball of fire lit up, hovering just over my thumb, middle finger, and pointer finger.

Oh boy.

I bent down so Vadik could see my eyes. I didn't let a fraction of fear or disgust show. In my best "I'm-crazy-and-you're-about-to-die" voice, I cackled, "Now you burn."

And the small flame hit his hair.

As I thought, Vadik freed himself from my spell milliseconds before the fire touched him. He leaped up as his hair went aflame and batted at it, trying to put it out to no avail.

Need I go into detail of what happened next?

I covered my mouth, gagging to the stench of burning flesh. Vadik's screams drowned out every possible noise, rupturing the silence that had settled over the castle.

I moved over to Brennen, taking my place while I waited for Vadik to put the fire out. I couldn't even look in his direction.

As quickly as they started, the screams stopped. I took a deep breath and turned to where he was last.

He staggered toward me, wisps of smoke spiraling from his pink, blistered skin. Dark coal marks covered spots of his arms and face, while others were a flaming red. There were places that the skin was burned away completely, leaving makeshift patches of bloody skin and bone.

A small sliver of sorrow panged me. I knew what Vadik did. I knew almost all of it was horrible.

But some piece of me wondered him he really deserved to be burnt to a crisp and an outlet for a spell that may or may not go wrong.

"You!" he cried, his bloody lips mangling the word. Shakily, Vadik pointed at me. "You will have the same fate as your mother!"

Every ounce of sorrow and regret I   felt for my actions went up in a blaze of fire.

Both literally and figuratively.

I planted my feet firmly on the ground, staying as close to Brennen as  I dared. Vadik continued to stumble to me, clenching and unclenching his fists.

I prayed with all my might that he wouldn't try to kill me with magic until he healed himself. If he decided on revenge and death, then I would most certainly die with him. If he decided on living and revenge, then I still held a fighting chance.

It was a gamble I was willing to take.

His warm hand seized my arm. "You stupid girl," he rasped. "Now you die." From behind his armor, he pulled out another silver dagger.

How many of those does he have?

I didn't have time to move out of the way of his stab. I twisted my body to the side, letting my arm take the damage.

Vadik drove the blade into my forearm, pulling it upward slowly. I cried out, trying to back away from him--trying to get away from the knife that ripped my arm in two.

He wouldn't let me.

It felt like fire blazed up my arm and to my shoulder, disintegrating everything in its path.

Vadik yanked the dagger from my arm. "Now you know what it feels like, dearie."

I didn't dare look at my arm to see what he did. The torment of feeling it was bad enough.

He brought the knife up again. His eye focused on my ribcage, at my breastbone.

With my free hand, I blasted the raised dagger from his grasp, flinging it past the walls of the maze.

Vadik snarled at me, baring his no- longer perfect teeth like an animal.  He tightened his grip on my torn arm and pulled my hand to his chest, forcing my fingers to touch his rough, bubbled skin.

He's doing it now!

My hand barely grazed Brennen's forehead before Vadik and I screamed the same word, our voices mingling in a dissonant key.

"Kerasma!"

The word slowed down. Everything crawled at a snail's pace.

Then picked back up at twice the speed it was originally going.

I grabbed Vadik's wrist, holding it as tightly as I could. He would not get away from his spell he started. With my other hand, I seized Brennen's hand, lacing my fingers through his.

He never told me that you feel everything with the healing spell.

Everything.

Every emotion, every ounce of pain.

I felt the cut hit my side, slicing open my stomach. The sword pierce my chest. The blood fill up my lungs and cut off all air.

A tickle ran down my ribs. I stared down, seeing the dark red liquid run off my body and onto the ground. Blood dripped out my mouth from my lungs, needing out of my body, but unable to escape.

Then I felt the burning.

The small slices I did to Vadik's shoulders were nothing in comparison to the fire that burnt my skin, burnt my body. A feeling lit up my chest; the feeling of hatred. Every ounce Vadik felt, I felt, and it was suffocating.

A high-pitched scream came out of the nothingness, like an alarm that would never stop blaring.

He laughed, overjoyed at his newfound, healthy body. His pink skin shone in the sunlight, his teeth glistening to a blinding white. He pulled away from my hand, trying to get away.

But the dead don't escape that easily.

Alarm rose in his eyes when I didn't let go. The hand of a skeleton seized his wrist, trapping him in an unbreakable bond.

He opened his mouth, screaming at me. "Let go, stupid! Let go, the spell is done!"

He lifted his foot and brought it down on the side of my head. Something snapped in my neck and my vision went dark.

But the hands of the dead don't let go easily.

I still watched everything that happened, even though my eyes were open and unseeing. Like a scene from a book, it rolled out in front of me.

"Let go!" he screamed. "You'll ruin all--"

He was cut off by choking. His free hand flew to his throat, trying to massage whatever it was out.

Dark red liquid dribbled down his chin and onto the ground. He stared at it in alarm.

Petals of crimson blossomed on his white shirt, starting at his stomach and breast bone.

Relief flooded over me. The spell was working.

His skin bubbled and blistered again, turning from a glowing pink to burnt red and coal black. The white of bones shone in patches of his burned-away skin.

He let go of my hand and stumbled back, gasping for breath but only drawing up blood.

He stared at my body in fear, seeing the broken neck that he caused. His mouth moved, forming the words "It won't stop."

He blasted away, trying to distance himself from my body, trying to escape from the spell he enacted. With all the fatal injuries he had, he still ran away.

Vadik went out of the maze and towards the woods, trying to make it there before the last transfer happened. His eyes bulged and he stopped, coughing up the blood that filled his lungs and depositing it in the vesper pond beside him.

His back straightened and he stepped down to run.

Snap!

An invisible force twisted his neck to the side. His eyes clouded.

And he fell into the water.

The only thing that broke the surface of the water after he fell in was a short flick of a tail, as if it was waving 'Thank you.'

Something pulled at me, dragging me towards my lifeless body that lay on the ground.

My eyes widened. I don't want to go.

I glanced quickly at Brennen. His chest rose and fell with deep breaths.

At least he lives.

I struggled against the force that continued to drag me, but it didn't work. My neck was no longer broken. The killing blow had never happened.

But was I alive?

I stared up at the crystal blue sky, taking in the beauty of it. If I was going to die, then I was going to go looking at something pretty instead of staring at the ground.

My ghost body hit my body.

I don't want to die. I don't want to die.

I don't want to d--

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And then everyone died. The end.

I was seriously going to mess with this chapter, but in the middle of said messing around, I realized what I was doing didn't necessarily fit this version of the characters, which is why it's all basically the same.

Ah well.

(and to those who think I'm serious about this being the end, no, it's not done. I was joking.)