Later during the day, the creature had been roaming the castle like a caged animal, Midas had for once locked her room and so they had to try and talk her out to open it.

She would have to come out of there at some point, right?

They were sitting right by that same door, head laying on the stone wall, staring into the void and chewing at their lips.

They couldn't manage to think about anything else but what they had seen, their eyes were filled with that gruesome scene that tormented their heart and that they had hoped to never see, not even in their worst nightmares.

With the exception that this had not been a nightmare, but reality.

They tried knocking once, then twice. No answer came from the woman's chambers.

But this time they couldn't just wait for it to open eventually, they couldn't daydream leaning on the huge wooden door just to go back to sleep in their room.

"Midas, please, open the door.” Their voice was barely more than a breath, words slipped out like the hush of wind, it was impossible for them to raise the tone more than that. "Talk to me. You can't just shut me out like this.” They sigh in frustration. “This is ridiculous!"

Finally an answer came. "No, what's ridiculous is you out there talking to a door."

"Because you won't open it!" Dubhra let out a groan, the despair clear in their tone. "Why are you doing this? Why don't you want to talk to me? Do you want me to beg? I'll get on my knees, but Midas, everything I do is for you. You can't be thinking that I'd ever stab your back."

A brief moment of silence.

"I want you to leave me alone. No, I command you to leave me alone."

"Oh my- you-" The words tumbled out, half swallowed. "You can't be serious! I’m making an effort to try and solve a more than serious matter!”

Finally, the key turned and the door opened, revealing Midas' figure. "And you're failing! Damned creature! You're a snake in my home!" This was nothing like any friendly debate they had, nothing like the bickering that characterized their days spent together. "You're a disgrace to me. First you say that you'll never leave my side, then this! All because you had some strange dream!"

At that point Dubhra should have gotten mad, lit up like a match, that was what usually happened. Yet, this time, all that was in their heart was anguish and regret, for something that they didn't do, but that it was real for the Empress, who was looking at them with distant, cold eyes. Like she was locking the creature before her in a little prison cell where she wouldn't have to hear them.

"You know it was not just a strange dream. It's always been like that, I predicted all of your victories until now."

They were doing their best not to fall apart right there, the urge to say that everything would have been fine and that this had only been the most realistic play pretend scenario they made to get her mad. But unfortunately they couldn't, they had to endure the pain and, maybe, she would have at some point listened to them.

"You know I'm right, so why won't you listen to me?" Their eyes pleaded, stripped from pride.

"You want to tell me that all the battles I fought were for nothing because I am just a puppet of fate?"

"No, no, I'm not saying that! But I’m telling you that the price to pay if we were to lose this time would be too high."

Midas looked like she was searching for something behind those mismatched eyes, a sign of mischief, a tip of amusement. But she didn’t find any and so she slightly lowered her head, like she was about to say something, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to. "You speak as if life itself was worth more than the cause we hold, as if our survival was victory."

She steadied herself and for a moment, Dubhra could swear they saw her crumble. ”Do you think there is anything to us beyond this war? To stop now would be to deny my very nature. If I turn away now, I'll be nothing but a coward, a traitor to my own purpose. What should I do? Turn my back on the chaos that made us both?"

Dubhra was hit with a wave of emotion, impossible to contain or to give a name to, their voice unsteady, breath caught in their throat. "I- I don't-"

They looked down at their feet, one hand reaching for their chest, like they were trying to push their heart back into their body.

The weight of it crashed over them.

For so long they thought this war, this cycle of blood and revenge was all they had, yet in that moment, standing before them was the only truth they couldn't deny.

"I don't want to die." It spilled from them, raw and shameless.

They never meant to say it, but now it was out. "Not like that. Not with you bleeding in the dirt beside me, not after my fire has burnt your body to ashes."

They avoided her eyes while their own were caught with a familiar sting. They hoped to not have to face the immediate consequences, still, their tone failed them.

In that moment, they would have wanted to know who they were, besides their purpose of an omen of Death, something else to provide that it could hope to, at least, bring her to consider their offer.

And why was there this feeling clawing at their chest? It felt so strange yet so familiar, so grounded, like it had been there for a long time already.

How could they have given a name to this pull, this ache in their heart that had nothing to do with war, nothing to do with duty or their thirst for blood? How could they ever make Midas understand that, to Dubhra, their purpose of vengeance meant nothing compared to her?

Then they got a glimpse of something, Midas' hand, the one still made of flesh, was reaching out to them.

It was close to their face, not an assertive gesture or with any hint of spite, something different.

The creature lifted their chin to stare right in the grey eyes before them. The promise of a caress burned their skin and made their heart panic in their chest, it made their legs weak. The urge to lean onto it and meet the cold little palm with their burning hot, hollow cheeks.

But before they could, her hand trembled and retreated, leaving the creature burning hot with anguish and anticipation.

The place was uncomfortably silent, the ferocious thumping of Dubhra's heart filled the room.

Midas took a step back. "Please, give me a moment to think, mh?" Her tone suddenly shifted to something softer. She looked tired. "Don't- your presence is tormenting me now, we will talk later."

Dubhra nodded and waited for the Empress to close the door, yet again.

How could she postpone such an argument so casually? Like her own life was not on the line?

The creature wanted to run in a hidden corner of the castle, maybe on a high tower, but their legs wouldn't move and they were suddenly too weak to stand.

They were back to sitting on the stone cold floor, a metallic hand reaching for their left cheek almost automatically.

And only then they allowed the stinging to take up space, behind their eyelids, sending their whole eyes burning.

They started to let out heavy black tears, tracing cruel strings on their pale face and staining their white dress, then the floor.

The ink came running right from their deeply shaken core, the whisper of a scream left their throat as they spilled everything out.

Their face was still burning hot.