Roselka stood up, smiling like there was no tomorrow. "Ashe... Ashe, how did you do that?" Roselka was able to sense Asheera and her Soul-Energy now, but she wasn't afraid.

  "Come on, let's go... It's not too late. Gatin prepared an emergency shuttle for us. He's waiting." Roselka pleaded, "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

  "The others... my mother, my brother... I lost them..."

  "Maybe they made it out, Ashe. Maybe we can still find them. But we need to go now before they send for backup."

  "They're all gone... Everyone is gone because of me..."

  "Ashe..." Roselka took a step forward, holding out her hand. "I..." But Asheera slapped her hand away and shoved her.

  "You ratted me out! You snake! You are one of them!"

  "I'm... What?"

  Roselka was perplexed to even hear this. Was Asheera in her right mind? Did that fire also damage her hearing?

  "Karsel... That traitor! He told me! Roselka Eria... Working for the Great Kamisword... It all made sense... You have the same name! You are the spy! The spy that we tried to find for years!"

  "Are you out of your fucking mind!? Father- Azrael shunned me! They cast me out! I'm not a part of them!"

  "NONSENSE!"

  "I am not your enemy! In fact, I'm trying to save you! To free you!"

  "I told you, Roselka! Don't lie to me! I can tell, you're quivering! You're scared!"

  "I AM SCARED FOR YOU! Because if we don't leave now, the only person left to call a friend will be dead! I'd be alone again!"

  This hit a nerve. Roselka always hated being alone. The only thing that reminded her that she was still alive was Ashe. She finally revealed a sense of vulnerability that Ashe hasn't seen before.

  "I'm... I'm..."

  Asheera punched her. Roselka stumbled back a bit, her face looking at the ground. She didn't even flinch.

  "It was YOUR idea, wasn't it? To burn our home and kill me!? Everybody is out to get me, you are too! You are all scared of me!" Asheera, tears of rage streaming down her face, screamed at her now only friend.

  Roselka didn't respond. She was lost for words. "... I live for you, Asheera. I love you."

  "I thought I did... but I hate you. I hate you so much!"

  Asheera went for another punch but Roselka intercepted it, grabbing her arm and pushing her off herself with a shove to the nape. Using Asheera's momentum against her, Roselka twisted her around and slammed her onto the ground. Hard. The impact made Asheera gasp for air. Roselka could tell from the way she gasped. She was strong. It took a lot for Roselka to bring her down even when she wasn't focusing.

  "Listen to me! I know you're angry! But you can't be angry at me! I am not your enemy! Listen! Listen for once in your life!"

  "Oh yeah!? Did you ever listen to me when I was ready to die!?"

  "I listened to you, always!"

  "LIAR!"

  Asheera battled against her strength, eventually shoving her away with a strong push against her face. She stood up, kicking Roselka in the face. She was being kicked way too many times in the face, it's funny how she isn't concussed still.

  Roselka's nose was broken and she could tell from the inability to breathe in her left nostril. She was coughing blood out now, which is odd because she didn't know it was possible for her to bleed internally, which she could feel that her lungs were starting to.

  "STUPID! BLIND! BITCH!"

  Roselka threw the last remaining snow on the ground to her face, blocking her vision. She then punched her face, kicked her leg and rolled her over to put her in a headlock.

  She might not feel, but she knows how to fight.

  "I know you don't mean it, Ashe. You're angry, I get it. But please don't turn against me. We can still leave. We can... we can..." Roselka's own grief finally took a hold of her. She was shaking.

  "They gunned the mayor. They gunned the children. The women, the elderly... They gunned my foster family down. You think I wanted this? You think I orchestrated this? What sick individual would want their family to suffer in a place they once called home? I don't want anyone to die!"

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Roselka grip loosened as she tried to keep her tears from flowing. But she couldn't. She couldn't stop them. The tears made the wound on her face sting, but she didn't feel it.

  She could hear it.

  She perceived pain that way.

  The more pain she received, the more buzzing she would hear.

  It was buzzing so much that she couldn't hear herself.

  Buzzing.

  Buzzing.

  Agh, can it stop?

  It's too much.

  "Hear me, Ashe... It's not me. They are lying to you." Her grip weakened. "He is lying to you. I never sold you out. I wanted you free."

  "No! You told them where I was! That's why you left me! You would've never left me if you weren't going to rat me out! You left to tell them where I was!"

  "Do you hear yourself!? I would never do that! To you of all people!?"

  "YES! YOU ARE LOST!"

  "You are deluding yourself, Ash- G-"

  Asheera successfully freed herself from her grip, elbowing her face and then stomping on it a couple of times. Roselka's world was starting to spin, and not because of the damage she was receiving.

  No, it was because of her grief.

  "You liar..."

  Roselka got on her knees but got a kick to the head. Asheera had lost it. Roselka was crawling back with her arm extended, as if she was pleading for her to stop.

  "A-Ashe...a... a.... aa... aahhh..." She couldn't finish her sentence as another kick to the face followed suit.

  "Do you like that, you TRAITOR!?" Asheera kicked her again. "DO YOU LIKE THAT!?"

  The buzzing was unbearable now. She could taste her own blood, and she could hear her skull rattling. All her life she's never had to take this much damage. The buzzing was so loud that she thought her head would explode.

  Roselka couldn't even stand up anymore. Her left leg was broken and now her head was a mess.

  She has lost so much blood.

  It didn't stop. Her head kept getting stomped on. She felt her body being lifted from the ground but didn't have the strength to react. Then she realized she was being strangled.

  Strangled against the ground with Asheera's hands.

  It was cold.

  "I... will... never forgive you, Roselka... never..."

  "..."

  "I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

  "..."

  It was so animalistic. Like a brute. A vicious monster. A "demon". Not a 14 year old girl who used to be kind and gentle. She lost everything because she was scared.

  It wasn't long until the buzzing from Roselka's head went silent. And it's quiet. She smiled, knowing that even though her best friend was going to kill her. She loved her.

  She loved her as a family.

  .:. Maybe killing her is the right choice. She's scary... She's hurting. She's been hurting all her life. She lives her life in hate. She lives her life in despair. If the world will be that cruel to her everytime... I'd rather her die by the person who cared about her the most. Me. Not those cruel soldiers... Not that maniac Karsel... Not Azrael... But the one she loves and cherishes the most. .:.

  .:. I'll save her from a cruel world, because I love her. .:.

  "SAY IT, ROSELKA! SAY YOU HATE ME! SAY YOU HATE ME BECAUSE I HATE YOU!"

  "...I..."

  "...Love..."

  "...You..."

  I love you.

  Asheera stopped strangling her, realizing that she could've gone way farther and possibly kill her. Her tears dropped onto Roselka's now bruised and bloodied face. 'What have I done?' is what she was asking herself the entire time.

  It only took a knife to the heart to make her reflect.

  "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry, Ashe..." Roselka cried as blood dripped down onto her face and into her mouth. "I wanted you to live freely... with me... so badly... I failed... I failed everyone..." Her grip on the knife she used to stab Asheera loosened as her arm went limp.

  Roselka rolled away from Asheera and laid next to her.

  Both bleeding out.

  Both on death's door.

  Both have failed each other.

  Asheera was bleeding out to die while Roselka was bleeding out for nothing. For a cause that she herself deemed pointless.

  Asheera didn't even understand. All the love in the world didn't matter. Roselka still left her. Roselka still 'ratted' her out. In her eyes, she still betrayed her. To Asheera, this whole ordeal of love was pointless.

  Amidst a burning world, flashlights illuminated the place. The remaining Mobilizers were searching for the Soul-Wielder still. If Asheera couldn't live for Roselka... maybe Roselka could live for Asheera.

  .:. Fuck... .:.

  Roselka tried to get up but it was very slow. She used a ruined car as support to get up, still clutching her leg and head with immense difficulty.

  .:. ... I thought you were the Hopebringer... instead you became a curse to us all... I hope I saved you from this cruel world... because this cruel world was never easy on you... Souls really are curses... It's all vague to me... but Soul-Wielders really are slaves to their own curses. .:.

  She walked away with all her might. She couldn't feel the pain, but she could feel her own body failing her. The blood loss was immense. The buzz in her head was loud, but she kept walking.

  "Target spotted." One of the Mobilizers aimed their gun at the limping Roselka. "Lower your gun, soldier! That is not our asset! That's the blind one!" The leader said.

  "Let her go... She won't make it even a couple meters." Then the Great Kamisword inquired.

  The soldier lowered his gun and made way for the Great Kamisword himself. He stared at Roselka, and Roselka glared back at where she could hear him. She couldn't see but her expression said it all.

  "Your Majesty, they are getting away!"

  "...Grab the asset and head back to station. There is nothing we can do."

  The soldiers hoisted Asheera up, her head limping. She wasn't dead but she was in need of immediate medical attention.

  Azrael glared at an escaping Roselka for the last time before walking behind the soldiers.

  .:. My daughter... if this is what you desire- I pray you do not regret this. .:.

  Roselka found the shuttle and opened the hatch, sitting down and trying to form an escape route through a console using voice control.

  .:. "Roselka. If the plan ever comes to fail and you have to run... bear my late daughter's name and last name. Hana Zurgen. You have been a precious foster daughter to me. Please live for me when I am no longer with you." .:.

  .:. "Yes, Papa..." .:.

  "I am no longer... attached to you... tyrant."

  Before she could plot an escape route, she passed out from exhaustion. The shuttle hatch closed by itself and the shuttle fired up, exiting the atmosphere as fast as possible and entering hyperspace as soon as it reached space.

  Roselka Eria was no longer.

  Hana Zurgen was reborn through the body and life of someone else.

  Xenoyr thanks you for your support.