"nova! be careful," elysia urged nervously, vargas pulling elysia back from the smoke, seeing that the commanders were starting to shoot back. at nova and victor.
        "dad! what are you doing? stop!" elysia ran in front of him. "shooting at your own daughter, really? for bloodfruit ━━ that's a joke!"
        she never allowed herself to be as angry as she was. let it show so evidently in her voice and face as it shook, veins tensing in anger. vargas etched his brows lower as she watched pain tear through the girl. he had to remind himself her father was the one doing this, it was bullshit.
        "dad! please just stop!" she grabbed his arm as he fought through her, shooting another blast of fire at the top of the structure. she wasn't begging on the half of trying to get the moonstones in their place, which he probably thought she was doing ━━ she genuinely cared. cared about the aftermath of this war ━━ how they wouldn't be able to look at their father if he hurt nova or victor up there.
        the structure trembled as more fire met the stone, a chunk of the ledge collapsing dangerously close to where nova was amid the thick, dark fog. she barely held on as they shoved the moonstones in place, and a scream caught in her throat when the structure shook.
        elysia flinched, hand going to her mouth as a tear brimmed in her eye. one leg of the structure completely ripped out of the ground as addison and zed ran to hold it. but it was way too heavy for both of them. vargas and elysia grabbed the other, to no avail.
        "it won't stay with us holding it," elysia realized shakily, in tears now. vargas cursed under his breath as he used all his muscle to hold it up, knowing it wouldn't do much either. the fog whirlwind was too strong to take down now; not even any of the commanders could do it.
        "i can't do it! unless i fully zombie out!" zed cried in agony. his wristband was beeping as fast as elysia's heart pounded against her rib cage. she closed her eyes. this wasn't real, none of this was━━
        "zed, no you can't! you'll be stuck in your monster form forever!" addison responded, wide-eyed. her blond and blue hair whipped around her among the wind. that whistled in elysia's ears. 
        "i have to try," he shouted. "i love you addison. i always have."
        quickly, the girl pulled elysia and vargas away with tears in her eyes as zed ripped the band from his flesh. he growled in protest as his human form fought his zombie, but he latched onto the metal bars quickly. without pain, he was strong enough to lift and stabilize it before he fell to the ground. elysia put her hands over her eyes with a whimper when she heard the breaths he took failing to make it down his throat, in agonizing wheezes. vargas's chest was heaving in and out as he pulled elysia close, as if their touch was enough power to make this all go away ━━ that everything would be okay.
        her eyes open when she hears addison's soft voice, dry from crying. "someday, this could be, this could be ordinary. someday, could we be something extraordinary?"
        his lips wobbled in a tiny smile as his eyes fluttered closed. "you and me side by side. out in the broad daylight."
        "if they laugh, we'll say.   .   ." her voice fell and elysia couldn't even see what was happening ━━ she didn't want to. she was holding her arm half over one eye as the other was in vargas's chest. they lost zed, and she was so close to loosing her sister.
        memories flashed of zed finding them on their way to the cave to find the bloodfruit. when she was naive under her fathers spell ━━ hungry for blood just for themselves. despite being in danger, zed always tried to keep the mood light and joked with them. she hadn't even known him for more than a week, and her chest felt as if it we're caving in. she cursed herself for feeling emotions so deeply to the point where she was in physical pain. more hurt than her leg ever endured.