*sweats nervously* Hey guys

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I didn't know what to do as I paced in front of a few tents, the occasional lower ranked Corporalki I saw drifting in my proximity was enough proof to show I wasn't alone and unwatched.

I ran through what I knew about them in my head; two Grisha in total, one heartrender, and an inferni. Both were pretty impulsive and hated to be left out of a fight, meaning they were usually frequent visitors to Tsibeya.

I can work with this, I thought.

I joined them sitting by the center communal fire that the inferni was playing with, the heartrender looking pretty bored, and pretended to be warming my hands.

I didn't want to disobey my father again but to hell with that, I wouldn't leave my parents at each other's mercy.

I looked over to the two men beside me, "What you do to get stuck here," I ventured, hoping they would take the bait of conversation.

The heartrender just kept staring into the fire as the inferni talked, "Pytor pissed me off, thought he could use some light in his dull miserable life so I lit him up," he sneered.

I huffed a small laugh, "And the rat snitched, did he?" The inferni nodded. "How about you?" I asked the other man.

He just glared at me.

"He doesn't talk much," the inferni supplied.

I hummed in response letting the silence wear out before letting out a dramatic sigh, I leaned over to the inferni, "Wanna get out of here?" I questioned.

I saw the tips of his mouth lift up into a smirk but before he could respond the heartrender cut across him, "Don't even answer that, we have our orders."

"Technically our orders were to watch her, Pytor never said anything about keeping her here," the inferni thought aloud, "Plus they might need our help over there."

Eventually, both me and the inferni had managed to convince the heartrender to leave the camp on the basis that Pytor was an idiot and couldn't lead an assault team on his own.

We were about to crest a hill that overlooked the chapel when the heartrender stopped, I looked back at him, waiting for what I knew he would say, "We should tu-"

"Saints almighty," the inferni gasped from the top of the hill.

We both ran up to see what was happening and the sight made me crumble to my knees, holding a hand to my mouth to stifle a scream

From atop the hill we could see the chapel that usually stood tall and proud, shining in the Ravkan sun, slowly crumbling, and at the center of it all were my parents, the both of them, the first time I have seen them together for real, no illusions, unshackled, but that thought was quickly lost to the wind.

Both my father and mother were kneeling against each other, shadows and sun contrasting against around them in a horrifying but also beautiful way as the walls slowly collapsed.

Through the cracks at the top of the church, the alter, I saw someone who I desperately hoped was David try to guide a hunched, trembling figure, wrapped in a shawl down some sort of rabbit hole. Zoya was hearding four or five other Grisha in the same direction, simultaneously fighting with all her might while Tamar and Toyla were trying to hold back Oretsev.

What were they doing, why wouldn't they help her, help both of them?

I shoved off my feet, sprinting towards the church, ignoring the shouts of the two Grisha behind me, unfortunately, I was the only one to do so.

My fathers' soldiers turned as I barreled through them and as I was about to finally break through and run to my parents to somehow stop all this, multiple pairs of strong hands found my arms holding me back from their ever-growing, dangerous display of power.

I kicked and cried for the hands to let go, to let me try to fix this mess, to do something, anything but just watch and shy away from the unknown.

Through my hysteria, I noticed that the shadows had shape and a blurry form as if the creatures were confused about how they should take place with the sheer light dancing around them, nichevo'ya, I remembered, the strange merzots creatures my father had created.

No matter how I cried and kicked and shrieked I could not pry my limbs loose, having to just watch as my parents slowly killed each other.

The voice in my head was screaming, a series of; no, no, no, no no no no, please no, not again, I can't take this, not again.

Pictures flooded my mind; my village, my adoptive parents. Sophie.

I closed my eyes as I heard someone call out, shout, "Alina!!"

The arms holding me captive pulled me out of the curch causing me to open my eyes, the only thing I could see was the dark forms of the nichevo'ya, hurling themselves at the remnants of the building, the walls the ceiling, anything that could come down did with my parents in the middle of it.

I sobbed and although I knew there was no point, fought against the hands holding me.

The nichevo'ya disappeared when the last of the building was destroyed, leaving an eery silence in their wake.

The arms around me loosened slightly and I ripped free, running towards the rubble, trying to dig to my parents. I looked over to the remaining soldiers who hadn't moved, frozen in shock, "Help me!!" I cried, tears streaming down my face, "Please!! Help them!"

It's here people, the battle scene!! Honestly I'm still not sure about it but I fell like the Darkling would definitely go out of his way to make sure Rena had stayed out of most of the fighting, so sorry if this didn't match up to yer standards but the more I look at it the more I like it so I'm proud :)

Also yes I know those aren't the exact order of how things happened in the book, I've been rereading that scene so much these past few days I basically know it off by heart but ya know *creative libraries*

Also we're probably only like a few parts away from the finale, still wondering if I should continue Rena's character into R&R cause I don't know how much time I'll have coming up with exams and such. I do however have a small WIP for this universe (literally i just came up with the idea in class a day or two ago) don't know if it will every see the light of day but I'll let ye know, so ya.

Have an amazing day and stay safe!!