Their escape was a perfect storm, no second too late or too early. Unimpeded they reached the abandoned factory, driving it deep within the main hall before getting out. Elaine did not leave her master's side and took in their surroundings, her eyes sweeping for entries and exits.

With a sigh Sin looked over their trusty van and set it ablaze with a snap of her fingers, startling Maria enough to stumble and trip over some of the exposed metal. Within the same heartbeat her body was covered and held by a thick net of threads, keeping her from falling. Elaine's fingers were moving fast, directing the threads and pulling her master back upon her feet. T

he treatment caused Maria to blush in embarrassment, all she could mutter was a small "thank you", enough for her new servant to beam with glee.

Sin did not keep her eyes off of the entrance, staring off onto the open yard. "It is a shame for the car, I had truly grown to like it, these new machines have such beautiful handling. But we can hardly continue using it after this escapade, though for now." She looked back at her master with a warm smile and stretched her hand out towards the yard. "We are in luck, my master. We were followed."

Maria could barely hear the muzzled sound of the rifle being fired, nor see the projectile coming, she could only stare at Sin who picked the bullet out of the air as it flew past her. "I am not aware of how people deal with their less-close relatives." Sin eyed the projectile and leaned to the side, dodging another that had been aimed at her head.

"But do cousins really fire this heavy a calibre?" She finally adjusted her aim, pointing upwards towards the railing. "You are lucky you are so clumsy, or I might have been able to consider this an attack upon my master." Malice shone out of her eyes as she gazed upon the assailant. "Please do try again."

Instead the woman leapt down to the ground, landing without a sound. Lightning cracked around her arms, her face contorted into pure hatred. "Just try me you maggot-ridden bitch, get out of the way."

"Rea." Maria stared back at her cousin and feelings welled up within her she could not describe. "I'm, sorry-" Her words were caught off before she could even think of the next. "Don't you dare, don't you fucking dare! Dad worked his soul out for almost two decades, wasting his money, his time, his nerves his fucking life,"

For just a moment her voice cracked, causing Maria to shiver, for never before had she heard her cousin this way, "for your fucking sake, and you ruin it in a weekend!" She threw her rifle to the side, yet even in her rage she did not dare to take another step. "Everything we worked for, everything we did to make this world safe, and you just stumbled in and destroyed everything, so do not dare telling me you are sorry!"

Sin ran her tongue across her lips, already raising her arm. "No, Stay, Sin. Only if she attacks again!" Maria spoke with such an authority that her servant's body froze up, her expression turning from glee to shock, then barely concealed irritation.

"As you wish, my master." she muttered, failing completely to contain her feelings. They were ignored by Maria, who instead took a single step forward. "You don't, understand me, Rea. I am sorry that it had to happen this way, and that I can't let you leave."

Disbelief washed over her cousin's face, dousing her anger for but a moment. When it returned, however, it was stronger than ever, her body shaking violently. "Just what the hell are you, huh? What the fuck happened, what did this bitch do to you, Maria? I had to scare your damn bullies away just four months ago, and now you order a damn massacre? That isn't you, none of this is."

She took a single step forward, her eyes pinned on Sin and only when the beast did not move she took another. "What did she tell you to make you do this, what lies did she feed you?"

Maria took a step back, withering under her cousin's intent stare. Elaine mirrored her steps, her fingers moving fast and creating a maze of barely visible silver threads. "No, lies, Rea. You know, you know I did not have a choice, I need the beasts, I need to protect, I."

"Bullshit, Maria!" Once more Rea interrupted her, taking another step towards Maria, but stopped as she heard the rattling of chains. "That is close enough, snake. You can poison our master's ears from here." Rea gritted her teeth, but did not push further. "How on earth can you trust her, she is Sin, Sin! Did you ever think about that? What did she tell you, huh? That you are some destined child of a tall great queen who was just a bit misunderstood, and these great and amazing BEASTS that you need to fullfill your destiny? Was that about it? And what didn't she tell you? Did she ever tell you a name? What she actually tried to do? Did she even tell you when all of this happened?"

Her breathing was rushed and uneven as she talked herself into a frenzy. "Do you really think you are the first? She is dragging you down towards her sick ideals and this isn't the first time, she's done this for decades!"

All now looked at Maria, the tension as the massive hall seemed to grow smaller on smaller as it all concentrated upon the heiress. Sin held her hand outstretched towards Rea, her expression unreadable.

With their distance firmly established Maria had stopped backing away, standing her ground. Still she could not bring herself to look her cousin in the eyes, bear the anger, the fury, the disappointment.

"She didn't, no. Sin is, scary, she is much too eager and unhinged, but she is a good servant." During the tirade of her cousin Maria's hands had been fidgeting without pause, now as she spoke they finally relaxed. "She did not bury me in details I did not need to know."

Her eyes closed as she took a deep breath, continuing before Rea could interject again. "Whoever came before me, I am the heiress of Len-Fey, and the beasts are mine. You are one of my enemies, and uncle killed my mother, that is all I need to know."

An eerie silence spread throughout the hall at her words, only broken by the rattling of Sin's summoned chains and Rea's incessant lightning. "What the hell are you saying, you goddamn brat." Rea's voice was quiet, her anger had not vanished, only turned cold. "Dad did everything for your mother, she was the one who decided on the final plan because she would rather die than have to pass Sin down to you!"

Her words were followed by laughter, shrill and loud enough for both Maria and Rea to stare at her, only Elaine kept her eyes upon her master's enemy. "Oh lords, the irony, the tragedy!" Sin held her sides, blackened tears running down her face as she could not contain her laughter. "You really had no clue, did you, or were you just that desparate?"

Laughter turned to coughing and Sin had to gasp for air, light chuckles interrupting her as she regained her composure. "I had not a single damn clue where they had gone, Snake. Not until that day." With every word she spoke Rea looked at Sin with growing disbelief, which moulded into indescribable dread.

"You get it? Your stupid, cruel plan of robbing me of my master, and my master of her mother, first that despair flared up high enough for me to notice!"

Another wave of barking, bestial laughter followed, with Sin pointing and howling at Rea. "Oh god you should see your face, your damn face, how does it feel huh? God I wished I could've told that to your daddie's face, too bad that my master had already cracked his worthless skull before I could get there!" Her shrill cacophony was silenced abruptly, as every cell in her body denied her control.

She could not move, not a single finger, her eyes screaming in the stead of her mouth. "That's, enough, Sin. Don't you dare mocking my mother." Maria's voice was little more than a whisper, but enough for Sin to fall down upon her knees when the grip of her master's authority released. Without another word she put her face onto the ground, unmoving.

"You're wrong, Rea." Maria continued, with her cousin too shocked at her display of control to cut her off. "You have no idea. All my life I wished to make a change. I saw all these no-good heroes with more power than they could ever need, doing absolutely nothing with it other than boasting. I wanted what they had, so I could make a change, because I knew I would do so much better, so much more than they could even dream of!"

Finally she met her cousin's gaze, and took a step towards her. "I finally have the power to do so, and I will be damned to give it up. I would rather die as a foolish, failed queen-pretender than live, wither and die as a nobody"

Now it was her cousin who retreated back, step by step, until she felt the cold, sharp threads of Elaine blocking her escape. "So you're going to throw away everything your mother did for you, to satisfy your damn princess-fetish, is that all that-" During her tirade Maria laid a hand on Elaine's head, and muttered "no more."

Her servant grinned with unspeakable glee and malice. "matters to you?" The threads closed in, wrapped themselves around Rea's right arm. It twisted and bent in impossible angles, muscles tearing, bones breaking, before it was torn clean off. The shock sent Rea to the ground, reeling and screaming as she held onto her now empty shoulder, eyes shot wide open.

Agonizingly slow, step by step, Maria closed the distance, towering over her older cousin. "I will not listen to your lies anymore. My mother was murdered. Uncle told her lies, because he was my enemy, he wanted to keep me from my beasts, my destiny, and he was going to kill me if had he gotten the chance."

Rea was too blinded by the shock of pain to even pay attention to her words. Maria continued nonetheless, in the same quiet, empty tone.

"You are my enemy too, though I wished you weren't. I loved you like the sister I never had, Rea. But you chose to be my enemy, and I cannot let you live for that. And for that, I am sorry." With that she turned her back on her, running a hand through Elaine's hair. "End it, but don't have her suffer."

Elaine grasped her skirt and lifted it just barely as she courtsied. "Your wish is my desire, my beloved master." The threads tightened around Rea's neck, dug into the skin and cut her throat. A last blood-curdling scream left her as her life left her body. Maria did not look back. Instead she kept walking, Elaine in tow. "Get up, Sin, and clean the place up, I don't care how."

The great beast was slowly to stumble back upon her feet, watching her master leave. "And afterwards, my master?" For the first time, doubt was lingering in her voice. It was not enough for Maria to turn around. "You start me a bath and have Yggdrasil find out what is going on outside. I need to rest."

She vanished into the dark hallways of the factory, leaving Sin with her cousin's mangled corpse. Sin waited for her master's footsteps to become inaudible, first then did she walk over to Rea's corpse, flames running across her right arm.

"So you were good for something in the end, snake. You idiots keep making all the hard steps easier for my dear master." Black flames quickly engulfed Rea's body, turning skin, flesh and bone to ash, carried away by a summoned gust of wind.

It did not take Sin long to catch up with her master, meeting up with her at the darkened steps down to the Stronghold. Maria was steady, no hesitation in her walk through the darkness. "Tell me, Sin. Why did you not take her shooting at me as an excuse to just tear her to pieces. You never let that opportunity slip by before, why now?"

The question caused Sin to find her smile again, though now Maria could finally see just how hollow it had always been. "I cannot attack unless to protect you from harm, my master. I only did what I did for dramatic effect, you would not have been hit even if you tried."

For once Sin's antics didn't phase her master, they only confirmed what she had been dreading all along. "So she didn't just know she couldn't kill me. She also didn't want to."

And Maria could not tell if that made her feel worse, or better. For truthfully, she could not feel anything.