Before he knew it, Slava was standing in front of a door he didn't recognize, in a place he'd never been. It was all foreign yet familiar. Did Serena bring him here? Taking a deep breath, his mind cleared up. Wait… what just happened? Did she…

She did. She messed with his mind. He let his guard down, he thought he could trust her. After all, she was Kolya's husband, but in the end, it didn't matter, it didn't change what she was, a human. Only thinking of her own goals and interests, doing everything in her power to fulfill them. She was just like him, he needed to be careful. He didn't know what she strived for, but Crow was right in the end, when it came down to it, she wouldn't hesitate to throw them to the sharks.

Thinking, he looked up at the door leading to Sasha's old room which now stood before him. He reached out. No matter what, he would definitely see this through to the end. As he touched it, the door gradually began to vanish.

The view inside was astounding. Two rows of mostly empty bookshelves stacked on top of each other, separated by a balcony, curved around the circular room and leading to a massive window. The endless horizon of vegetation was visible through it, a mountain eclipsing the view, next to which sat a comparatively insignificant girl.

Sasha sat dishevelled next to a towering discarded pile of books. He could see the books gradually vanishing from the shelves, appearing in front of her. She flipped through them hysterically, faster than anyone could ever read them.

“No, no!” She churned, the book in her hand translocating to the top of the pile, another appearing to take its place. “Impossible! It's in every single one!” A few seconds after the last book landed in her hands, she chucked it to the side. “I couldn't do anything!” Grabbing onto her head, she screamed, tearing off the blindfold that had covered her eyes for so long until now. Her messy hair moved to cover her face as she let go of the piece of organic metal. She sat there on her knees, limp limbs, blankly staring at the ground before her.

“Throwing away what I gave you so easily, are you giving up?” To his words, her body stiffened and she slowly raised her head. When he got close enough, Slava carefully crouched down, picking up the cloth-like bandana from the ground. Her head followed and when he stood up, their eyes locked as hers reflected the room’s light, amethyst eyes quivering in a torrent of emotions.

“You…” He could clearly see her expression shifting from shock to relief and then to bitterness as she bit her lip. “Your eyes…” Undoubtedly realizing what she just did, Sasha abruptly stood up, spinning around to face the window. “What are you doing in my room?” For her to not even notice him. “What happened to you?” Slava worriedly asked, walking forward. “Stop!” Her trembling cry made him spontaneously comply. “Leave, this is something I need to deal with on my own.” This… He couldn’t believe it. First, it was Serena trying to dig into him just to get what she wanted, now it was her? “Oh? You too? You think you can just use me to get what you need and then throw me away?” Who did they think he was? They seemed to have forgotten, pushing him around as they pleased. “No, I…” She hesitated, before taking a deep breath. “I told you to leave!” Without turning back, she extended her arm, a familiar haft extending from both sides of her hand. Now she was bringing Arissa into this? Oh, this really pissed him off. Was she threatening him, really? Did she think he would be so easily dealt with?

“And what if I say no?” The question was rhetorical, he already knew the answer and his body reacted accordingly. The white layer of his suit emerged from his back, shredding his bloody gown and moving to cover his entire body. “Then I will have to obligate.” The torn suit she still hadn't changed until now disintegrated, replaced by a dark cosmic layer overtaking her skin.

Seeing her slowly turn around, his lips curved up. Watching her scythe inching closer, he remained unperturbed. Her stance was unstable, hesitation evident in her blade. He witnessed her expression instantly turning from a stiff chilling glare to a concerned shocked look of worry. The sharp edge that was moving for his arm momentarily froze. Sasha stopped for a second. Whether it was out of surprise or hesitation didn’t matter because that moment of uncertainty was all he needed. Sasha was forced to watch in horror as her scythe sliced through her friend while he stepped forward.

Slava couldn’t remember much of their return from the mission, however, one thing he did gain was a new perspective. He could never forget the colorful view of that halted world, the feeling he got from his body moving effortlessly through the strange space, his mind free of all restraints. As long as he understood himself and the value of all that made him who he was, he could bend the world to his will.

He could use her blade’s momentum against itself, transferring it into his body, essentially transforming her scythe and his body into repelling magnets. So as the blade penetrated his body, instead of slicing through him, it was gradually drained of its kinetic energy while repelling the particles in its path. In the end, it created a reaction he didn’t expect. Just like a rubber band, the particles rushed to recover their initial state. They pushed against the blade with a force far greater than it initially bore. A normal weapon would’ve shattered, but Arissa didn’t.

Instead, from Slava’s wound emerged slithering threadlike cracks that pulsed with an increasingly intense violet glow. At the sight of this, both of their eyes grew wide, and before they could react, a ripple spread from the singularity. The first gave way to a second, then a third and a fourth. Finally, the fifth came and with it, they were knocked away with unrelenting force. Slava had expected the blast and apparently so did Sasha, because as he landed on his feet, with the ground cracking below him, her body seemed to faze for some time before finally stabilizing. A little more and his body would’ve incurred permanent damage.

“You madman! Are you insane?” Maybe he did overdo it slightly, but it worked didn’t… Reflexively interrupting his thoughts, he summoned a chain to restrain the blade coming straight for his face. “Do you not understand?” She asked through gritted teeth. Seeing his chains shake, Slava crouched down. “Is this all just a game to you?” The anger in her voice grew as she vanished from sight. Slava didn't stall, jumping into the air, chains flashing through around him. “I just lost the person I cared for the most in this world!” She appeared on his right, carrying a wave of rage. Born of guilt and sorrow. “I just learned that my whole life was a lie!” Then on his left. He knew that she was blaming herself, for her stupidity, for her naivety. It was all her, Arissa didn't interfere. She sliced, and he followed, every cut leaving a trail behind. No tricks would work against this, all movement would be severed. He could only restrain her but not for long as she would vanish before he could ever fully grasp her. She would disappear and he would shift.

“I lost the only person that ever mattered!” She hated him so much right now, but more than anything, she hated herself. She moved hastily and haphazardly, but with a destructive force that managed to pierce through Slava’s suit nonetheless. It was as if her emotions were manifesting between them, tearing the space itself.

“Can’t you feel anything?” But despite all of that, there was a gentleness hidden in the madness. “No that’s right you can't, and you won't…” A faint sense of hope, her determination, her desire to fight, to improve and something else… something hidden deep down within her. “Because the only person you ever cared for was yourself!” Slava briefly froze forcing their dance to a halt before he hastily scrambled to restrain her with his might.

“What?” He got caught off guard by her words which went against her actions. “Am I wrong?” She asked disturbingly. “Ever since you came here, you never once tried to contact or even locate your family.” Had she been monitoring him? He didn't like this creeping feeling. Without any hesitation, in her moment of confusion, he pushed her away. “The person I considered to be my father wants to sell me off.” She teleported behind him, he couldn’t see her, but he knew she did. “Yours put his life on the line for you and you can't give him even a fraction of the respect he deserves…” Slava stopped listening, and the chains around him vanished.

Pure white lightning erupted out of his back, time slowed down, and he waited, watching the space split before him. When she was close enough, he raised his arm and his palm split open before the scythe had even reached him. Yet, he remained unperturbed as she inched closer and the severance spread further. When she was about to stop, her velocity suddenly increased, Sasha's blade almost manifesting at the tip of where his palm used to be. That's where it finished its route. They looked at each other coldly. Sasha clearly knew this wasn't the end as she stared at Slava's split face. And she was right because in the next moment, a shockwave spread from the edge of her blade. In the blink of an eye, the scenery changed as if time had been rewound. Slava now stood before her, hand firmly grasped around her weapon's blade.

“I might not be the most loving person between the both of us, but that doesn’t mean that I don't care.” He'd released his domain completely, instantly suppressing Sasha's. Her careless outbursts momentarily fell apart. He was serious. “Everything I do, I do for those I love, for my family.” He walked up to her, forcefully lowering her frozen arm. “For you, for Kolya, for my father, for my mother, for Anissa…” For Akasha. “I didn’t try to look for my family, because I know the risks it entails. I trust them.” His monotone voice carried an emotionless indescribable weight. “I know that they are competent, smart, and resourceful, no matter what they might face, I trust that they will push through.” His hand moved to her shoulder. “I would rather have them hate me and prosper than have them be hurt, coerced or even tortured for information about me.” He looked into her frozen eyes filled with complicated emotions. “So no Sasha, you’re right, this isn’t a game, this is war and war requires sacrifices.” Letting go, he sighed walking past her. As soon as he had taken a few steps, his suit morphed into a set of baggy clothes revealing multiple fresh wounds all over his body.

“I do respect your decision, just not how you expressed it.” His fingers moved and Sasha blankly fell to her knees. “Don’t push me away.” He stopped in his tracks slightly tilting his head. “I’ll leave you alone now, just don’t do anything stupid.” He paused. “And know that I’ll be here for you, always.” He took a few more steps, and she finally moved, raising her previously empty hand. “Keep that bandana, it was a gift, try not to lose it next time.” She firmly closed her palm, using her scythe to struggle to her feet.

“Moron, it's not a bandana. It's a blindfold,” she managed to say, a warm smile on her face. Casually waving he continued on past the door. There was no point in asking. He knew why she'd kept it despite her eyes having healed. It was the same reason why he never fully erased his scars. They were marks of the past, reminders of his failures of what he had lost and what he needed to protect.