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"You know, I've always wanted to be like Barclay," Leif said quietly. "He was so gentle yet strong, kind and wise.."

The boy's gaze darkened as he let out a sigh.

"But he's dead anyway, so what good is all that?"

"Leif..." Kel tried to step around the emperor, only to be blocked by his arm.

Throwing his head back, the young king let out a maniacal chuckle. It filled the hall, eerily bouncing off the walls.

When he finally stopped laughing, he turned to Kel with a wolfish grin.

"Wow! You can breathe fire, Kel?" he exclaimed. "That's amazing!"

Calix's arm tightened around her waist as the boy took an unsteady step closer.

"The princess's body double, a fire breather," Leif held up a finger for each item he listed,"... and the Dragon Emperor's lover?"

Apparently he hadn't been so focused on his father's body that he missed the events going on around him.

Letting out another snort, Leif reached down to grab Sir Arden's sword.

"Ha. It's like I don't even know you at all, Kel--like I never did."

The tip of the blood-covered sword screeched across the tile while Leif took a few more steps toward where Kel and the Dragon Emperor stood.

"First Barclay and now that worthless piece of trash over there that I call my father," the boy mused. "It wasn't your fault, Kel.. but it kinda was your fault, huh?"

Kel tried unsuccessfully to break free of Calix's grip. "No! I didn't mean.. Well, I thought that you ha-"

"Hated my dad anyway?!" Leif finished for her, bursting out in laughter again.

The soldiers below poised to strike as the boy raised the sword slowly. First pointing at the emperor's stomach, then his heart, then past his shoulder at the girl behind him.

"I do, Kel. I do hate him."

"Leif, first put the sword down," Kel soothed nervously.

If the boy moved so much as another inch, he would be struck down immediately.

"Oh, you don't want me to hurt this man? He's important to you?" Leif retorted. "Well, what if I accidentally kill him. What if it's not on purpose, Kel?"

Almost before he finished speaking, the boy suddenly let out a loud grunt, his father's sword clattering to the ground as he reached for his shoulder.

"I lost my uncle too. And I never had a father to begin with."

A new voice filled the hall as a gaunt man with messy brown hair and unwavering green eyes lowered his bow.

"So what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Ugh, not that Dashien guy again." Kel heard the Emperor mutter under his breath as some of his soldiers moved to swarm the newcomer.

With all the chaos happening in the palace, Dash must have escaped from the dungeon and found an opening to shoot at Leif while everyone was focused on the dramatic display at the head of the hall.

While Dash was being surrounded, Leif fell to the floor, his face twisted in pain while his hand hesitated over the arrow sticking out of his shoulder.

"Your kingdom is in ruins; there's nowhere left to run," Calix addressed the wounded boy, unsheathing his own weapon. "Will you willingly submit to the Serin Empire?"

In the version of this moment Kel had imagined, Leif would be handing over the king's medallion, bowing respectfully to the Dragon Emperor. The guards still loyal to him would follow suit, and the rebels would know they had no other choice. Without any further bloodshed, everyone would have kneeled before their new ruler as he graciously accepted Mevani's throne.

But there was no way of knowing if that was the way things would play out now.

The Leif that Kel knew had broken free of his villainous shell only briefly. Now the unfamiliar, unpredictable madman had taken control once again.

Could it be that his way of mourning was to retreat so far inside himself that some dark personality, hidden deep in his mind, was able to creep to the surface? Or had this ugly side of him always been hiding just beneath his smile?

"Leif!!"

This time a woman's voice rang out, interrupting the Emperor.

In through the hall's doors trudged two more people, most likely chasing after Dash.

The woman who had called out was dressed neatly with smooth blonde hair while the companion she supported was both filthy and sickly.

Ah. Adriell had been the one to release Dash and the old king.

With a barely audible sigh of frustration, the Emperor motioned for the two newcomers to be subdued.

"Don't give up, Leif!" Adriell shouted as Serin soldiers pinned her arms behind her back. "This is our country!"

Now it was Kel's turn to sigh. Evidently, Adriell still hadn't given up her delusion of 'fixing things'.

"Tell him, Dash!" the foolish girl continued screaming. "Do something!"

Dash hung his head and turned away from Adriell, toeing at the bow that had been knocked from his hands when the soldiers overtook him.

His answer was clear.

Adriell gasped as she looked from the bow to the bleeding king, then let out a snort.

"Right. You always side with HER," she scoffed.

The girl turned back to Leif to call out to him once more, but with a nod from the Dragon Emperor, a nearby soldier quickly shoved a gag in her mouth.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, however, her reckless words had reached Leif, igniting the last bit of fighting spirit left in him. Picking his father's sword off the ground a second time, the boy charged at the emperor, ignoring the excruciating wound in his shoulder.

"No! I won't submit!" he snarled. "I'll make you pay for killing my family!"

"Very well then," Calix grunted, blocking the boy's attack.

Immediately, several soldiers moved to surround the dueling rulers while the rest struggled with the Mevani knights and rogues, riled from their king's sudden conviction.

No, Kel thought, everyone will die at this rate.

Everything had almost been finished. Leif would have surrendered or been forced to surrender if Adriell hadn't come in.

"Foolish until the end," Kel hissed, noticing Adriell flinching from the fighting around her.

Now, there was only one way. Kel turned back to where the Emperor and Leif stood with locked swords.

"Finish this quickly."